Halo: From Heaven, to Hell
by Patriot-112
Summary: Sometimes the smallest of things can have the biggest of impacts over time. What can one Marine Squad and 14 halo fans do to change the course of the Halo Universe? Only time will tell.
1. Chapter 1: Reclaimers

**_Patriot-112: _****_Hello Everyone! Patriot-112 here along with 117Jorn giving you another fic, this time in the Halo Universe._**

**_117Jorn:_****_ Yeah! Its gonna be similar to our 'New Blood' fic that's on my profile, however instead of the Star Wars universe, its Halo!_**

**_Patriot-112: _****_That's right! And to start things off we head to Afghanistan._**

**_117Jorn:_****_ Yeah...wait, Afghanistan-?_**

**_Patriot-112:_****_ BEGIN!_**

**Chapter 1: Reclaimers**

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**_August 14th 2012 AD_**

**_Afghanistan_**

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It was just a normal for the Marines of the 1st Marine Division in the Middle East country of Afghanistan. Unless of course if you can consider an RPG attack, followed by small arms fire from the Taliban, normal.

The Marines were on a routine patrol of the Hindu Kush mountains that formed as the border between Afghanistan and it's southern Neighbor, Pakistan. Even with the death of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al-Qaeda Terrorist group, last year, said organization was still strong, along with their Taliban Allies.

"RPG! Duck!" A Marine shouted as the eight man squad ducked under another RPG fired at where they were dug in, a short series of old Trenches. The Rocket Propelled Grenade flew over them and impacted the area behind them.

"Son of a Bitch, where did these guys come from!" Shouted a dark skinned man who wore a sleeveless Dark Green MARPAT Utility uniform, holding a M249 light machine gun.

"Like I'd know!" Shouted back another Marine who had reddish brown eyes wearing a full MARPAT Uniform, who rose from his cover for a few seconds to fire a few bursts from his F2000.

Another Marine, this one a woman with black ear length hair and green eyes also wearing a full Desert MARPAT Uniform, stood up and fired her Benelli M4 shotgun.

"Now I know how the Russians felt when they invaded this fucked up country!," she said, "These guys are everywhere! There's no end to them!"

"Why didn't we just nuke these guys in the first place!" Shouted a younger voice, a blue eyed 19 year old who had a Radio out. "It would have been easier that way!"

"Not now Fanboy!" The F2000 user, Nathan 'Fox' Welkin said, "Hows that air support coming?"

"I've got nothing!" Alphonse 'Fanboy' Williams reported, "I can't get a signal through! Ya think they could be jamming us?"

"These are Guerillas Fanboy," said a 21 year man, with light brown hair, amber colored eyes behind his protective goggles, and wearing the desert MARPAT, with the Lance Corporal rank patch on his uniform, as he fired his M39 EMR, with a calm look on his face, "I doubt these guys have that kind of tech. And even if they did, they would need someone who knows how to operate it, which I doubt they have," as he said this, Daryl M. Frost, aka "Stone Face" fired another round from his EMR, taking out a Taliban armed with an RPG.

"Roy, where are they coming from?" Daryl asked too his left, where there was another Marine who had a XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, looking through the scopes.

"Ahead of us, five RPG Troopers left in dug in holes." Roy Hertland, aka 'Predator' reported. "Several other guys with them with AK-47's." He then paused for a moment as his finger twitched on the trigger and fired a single shot "Make that four RPG Troopers."

"Nice, but how the hell are we gonna get the others-GAH!" Shouted a 28 year old man with green eyes and a MARPAT uniform, only wearing a classic cowboy hat. Another Marine was treating a leg wound, said marine being a woman with blond hair tied into a short ponytail and blue eyes. "Doc, take it easy, will ya?" Thomas Owen, aka 'Cowboy' said as the woman wrapped up the wound.

"Quit being a baby! It's your fault you got hit in the first place!" said the Navy Corpsman, Sarah Collin as she tightened the tourniquet around the wounded marine's leg, "You're lucky the bullet didn't hit an artery,"

The Cowboy hat wearing marine just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever darlin'," he said, only to wince as he felt the hand of the Corpsman adding pressure to the wound.

The M249 wielding Marine, Richard 'Boomer' Clank, just shook his head as he turned to the team's commander. "Sarge, what's your orders?" He asked.

Gunnery Sergeant Derek Ingram, a man who looked in his 30's or 40's who stood at 5'1, had light brown slightly greying crew cut hair, dull dark eyes and a 5 o'clock shadow beard, looked over from the cover. "Boomer, you still have your launcher?" he asked.

Boomer nodded as he readied his AT4 Anti-Tank Missile launcher "Fanboy, launch your M203 on my mark with Boomer's missile, Target the RPG sights. Megan, use Cowboy's M1A1 M203 and do the same!"

Megan 'Gearbox' Harper nodded as she picked up Thomas's Rifle and entered a grenade into the launcher.

"Grenade loaded and ready, Sarge!" said Fanboy, with Gearbox saying the same.

"AT-4 ready, Sarge," Boomer said as he prepared to aim the missile launcher.

The Gunnery Sergeant peaked over at the positions of the Taliban Fighters. They were using a few trees for cover, and they had slightly higher ground than they did, and were dug in a bit into the mountain. However these fighters were sloppy in setting up their emplacements, and most of them were rather bunched up.

"Fire at those positions on my mark," He ordered, "MARK!"

The Marines nodded as they rose from their cover, Boomer fired his Anti-Tank missile while Al and Megan fired their grenades. The Explosive weapons soared up into the Taliban positions, and in a short display of fireworks several of the Taliban RPG positions were blown to smithereens.

"HA! Owned!" Alphonse shouted, "Semper Fi!"

"They're falling back!" said Nathan as they saw some Taliban head back into the mountain.

"Let's move! Stone Face, Predator, you're on point!," Derek and he and the other Marines got up and headed after the retreating insurgents, with Daryl slinging his EMR across his back and taking up his FN SCAR-L with a EOTech-5 holographic sight.

Sarah helped Thomas back onto his feet "Alright you're good," she said as Megan handed him back his rifle "Just don't get shot in the leg again, and try to take it easy, will ya?"

"Yeah Yeah, don't worry." Cowboy said as he followed his team to pursue the Taliban. Sarah sighed as she moved to follow them.

A few minutes later, the Squad tracked the Taliban Forces towards a somewhat large cave opening, which seemed to go deeper into the mountain. Looking inside they could barely see anything inside since it was so dark.

"So...who wants to go into the dark and spooky cave first?" Al said, causing the others gave him a deadpanned look, "What!? It was a legitimate question!"

They rolled their eyes as Daryl took a pair of MNVD goggles and placed them on the carrier of his MICH-TC-2000 combat helmet, and proceeded to walk into the cave, Assault Rifle raised.

"That answer your question?" Megan asked as she placed on her own MNVD goggles and proceeded inside with her Shotgun. Soon, one by one the Marines entered the Cave, with Fanboy bringing up the rear.

For a few minutes, the Marines slowly made their way into the caves, proceeding with extra caution. Yet there was no sign of the Taliban Forces inside. "Sarge, I just checked the Radio." Alphonse whispered, "Whatever that interference that's keeping us from contacting Command is, its getting stronger the more we move in this cave."

Derek frowned at that as they continued further inside, "Whatever it is we better find it and shut it down," he said.

"Sarge, I see light up ahead," Daryl said as they kept advancing toward in the winding tunnel, until at last they came upon a cavern that could fit an _Nimitz_-class Carrier in it. But it was not the cavern itself that surprised them, it was what was _inside _the cavern that made that made them go slack-jawed for a minute.

"What. The. Fuck?" Boomer said.

The walls and ceilings were covered in silver geometric structures and walls, many which had a white or blue glow to them. The entire cave seemed to be illuminating itself.

"I...don't think the Taliban built this..." Thomas said, looking around.

"Wait...it couldn't..." Fanboy said as he stepped in front of the others, looking at the area with wide eyes. "The walls...everything...it can't be..."

The others looked at the youngest member of their group with raised eyebrows.

"Uhh, Fanboy? What's up?" said Cowboy as he tipped his hat up a bit.

The young radio man turned back to them.

"Guys...don't you know what this is?" he said. "Doesn't _any _of this look slightly familiar to any of you?"

"Uhh...no..." Sarah said, looking around "I don't think any of us have seen anything like this..."

"Wait a sec..." Daryl as he looked around as well "Hang on...it couldn't really be..." he then looked at Alphonse "You think this is Forerunner?"

Fanboy nodded "Yeah, it looks just like the ruins in the games..." he said.

"Wait, what the hell are you two talking about?" Boomer stated. "Do you know something we don't?"

"These Ruins, me and Daryl have seen them before," Fanboy said, "We've seen them in a game we've played...Halo."

The other six members of the squad blinked before their eyes widened "Halo? You're kidding, right?"

Thomas nearly shouted, "You mean that game you're all hot for?"

Alphonse didn't even glare at the southern Marine "Yeah, check this out." He said as he reached into his pack, and pulled out an I-Pad. He then flipped through a few commands, and then showed everyone in the squad what was on the screen. "These are Gamer pics of a Forerunner Installation in Halo 4," he said, "Look Familiar?"

The Marines looked at the image and their eyes widened at the similarities.

"Holy shit," Said Nathan as he looked at the images and the ruins, "They're right! Their Identical!"

"How the hell can Alien Ruins from a Videogame be in Afghanistan?" Derek demanded.

Both Alphonse and Daryl shrugged "You're asking the wrong people," Daryl said, "But if there's one thing I know, its that we can't let Taliban get their hands on technology belonging to the Forerunners, trust us on that one."

Derek nodded at that, knowing that any type of Alien technology, including weaponry, could prove to be very dangerous.

"Agreed, let's find the insurgents that ran in here, and secure the area," he said, and the other Marines nodded until they heard gunshots, screams, and shouts in Arabic, making them go on guard.

"What the hell?" said Roy.

"I think someone or something found them for us," Cowboy said and Sarah glared at him.

"No shit Sherlock," she snapped.

"Move!" Derek said as he signalled the others forward, and the Marines rushed forward further into the facility. All the while Alphonse was praying in his mind that those Taliban forces didn't find something they shouldn't have. '_Please for the love of god tell me they didn't unleash a Flood Outbreak..._' he thought.

As they moved further into the facility, they then came across another large room, though not as large as the one they found before. There was a single Forerunner Catwalk ahead of them with what looked like a Holographic Terminal at the end. However they also quickly noticed the five dead Taliban on the ground, shell casings for their AK-47's lied everywhere around them.

"Oh shit," said Roy as he looked at the dead Taliban Guerrillas. Derek too was shocked as he looked at the wounds on the bodies.

"Who took these guys out?" he said, as Sarah moved toward one of the bodies.

"Sarge, who or whatever killed these assholes hit them with something that burns, and I'm not talking about hot shrapnel or powder burns," she said as she looked at the wounds on the body.

Derek's eyes squinted at that as the others kept their guard up. They then heard whimpering and followed where the sound was coming from, which was behind the Holo-Tank. Daryl was there first and kept his SCAR-L ready for anything that might attack. He looked around, and saw it was a Taliban soldier, he had seemed to have lost his primary weapon, but he still had a Makarov Pistol held closely to him. The Taliban also seemed to had have wounds similar to what killed the other insurgents.

The Taliban soldier glanced up at Daryl as he turned around the corner. He tried to raise his pistol to bear on the American, however Daryl caught the pistol in his hands and yanked it out of his grasp "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he said in Arabic.

The Taliban soldier backed against the wall, all the while having a look that Daryl could recognize as a mix between fear, and hatred as the insurgent spoke.

"Y-You set them upon us infidel! You set your soulless machines upon us to kill us all!" he shouted.

Daryl blinked at that, "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, "What Machines?"

As the little Interrogation scene went on, Fanboy was with the others as they investigated the bodies. Alphonse picked up a damaged AK-47, which had a hole melted into it.

"I've never seen anything like this," Sarah said as she inspected the bodies, "Their burn marks, but their too precise to be from something like a Flamethrower or a grenade." She looked up at Fanboy "You have any idea what did this?" she asked, "If these really are Forerunner Ruins from that game you and Daryl play, you know anything that could do this?"

"I have a good idea..." Alphonse said as he set the rifle down, "I doubt there are any Prometheans here, so that only leaves one option: Sentinels."

Megan blinked "What the hell is a Sentinel?" she asked.

Just as she said that, a humming sound was heard, one that Daryl and Alphonse recognized and caused their eyes to widen.

"You're about to find out!" Fanboy said as he prepared his assault rifle. Then, emerging from somewhere in the ceiling, descended several objects. They were colored grayish white in color, and had two arm-like appendages with two grapple fixtures at the end of each arm, along with a central "head" and a curved undercarriage.

"Holy mother of...," said Megan said as she saw the Sentinels observing them.

"Fanboy, Stone Face tell us what to do," Derek said, his grip on his M4A1 tightening.

"Don't do anything to provoke them!" Fanboy said urgently, "They won't attack us unless we attack them!"

The Sentinels approached the team of Marines, they had their weapons lowered but still at hand as one of them approached Fanboy, who was getting very nervous as the Sentinel approached his face.

"Uhh...Hi?" Alphonse said too the Sentinel. "We Come in Peace?"

The Sentinel said nothing, it just continued to eye Alphonse as it was practically in his face, making a few mechanical noises.

Then, the Sentinel began to back up from the group. This confused the Marines for a moment, before they heard another sound of humming. They looked up, and Alphonse's eyes widened seeing the familiar spherical shaped machine with a glowing purple eye. The Machine stopped in front of the Marines, looking at them for a few moments.

"Greetings Reclaimers!" The Machine said, in a synthesized female voice, surprising the others "I am 6812 Incentive Apex, I am the Monitor for Installation 1194, otherwise known as the Conduit! Apologies for being delayed, for I needed to conduct some repairs to myself and to the installation when the previous hostile reclaimers attacked me and my Sentinels."

Daryl then spoke up as he pushed the currently bound and gagged Taliban Fighter forward, while holding the Makarov Pistol, "And that wouldn't happen to be one of these guys would it?"

The Monitor turned and looked at the currently detained Insurgent, who was struggling and trying to get loose.

"Ah yes! That is one of the Hostile Reclaimers," Incentive Apex said. "The moment I presented myself to them, they immediately attacked, and I was forced to defend myself."

"Uhh, you think you could explain to us why you're here?" Derek asked, still unsure about the floating light bulb before them. "And explain to us what the heck you are?"

"She's a Monitor," Alphonse explained, "Their Artificial constructs the Forerunners left behind to maintain their facilities after they fired the Halo Array to wipe out the Flood."

"That is correct," Apex said as she floated next to Fanboy "I see you are knowledgeable about my creators young Reclaimer."

Alphonse chuckled a bit nervously "I...have my sources." he said, "But there's still a lot I don't understand...like what this facility is doing here in the first place?"

"Ah, of course." Apex said. "This Installation, known to my Creators as 'The Conduit' was one of the installations constructed by my Creators as a fail safe in the event our galaxy was lost to the Flood. My creators had managed to discover the secrets to inter-universal travel, allowing them to travel from one universe to another, in hopes to survive the activating of the Ring Installations."

"The Halo's..." Daryl muttered, before he spoke up "What happened to the Forerunners who came here?"

"In time, they and the Reclaimers they had brought with them, died through causes I am not aware of." Apex answered, "However, they left this installation to begin establishing the first civilizations on this planet. They had tasked me in the defense of this installation, to be sure no one should misuse the technology of my creators."

The others were surprised by that.

"And when was this exactly?," Roy asked.

"About two thousand of your Earth Years ago," she said, and Alphonse blinked in confusion at that.

_'Wait a minute, that's not right' _he thought, '_The Halo Game's didn't come out until 10 years ago, hell games didn't exist back then! Two thousand years ago would put us around the time Jesus Christ was...wait..._' Alphonse's eyes widened '_Wait one damn minute here! Could Jesus of been..._' Fanboy blinked before he shook his head '_Nah, no way. No way he could have been a Forerunner ...right? ...right?_'

Before any of the Marines could say anything more, the distant sound of AK-47 Fire and Arabic shouting could be heard, causing them to look down the hallway.

"Da hell is that?" Megan shouted as she pumped her shotgun.

"It appears there are more Hostile Reclaimers entering this facility," Apex said, "But in much larger numbers than before."

"Shit," Thomas muttered, "'must of followed us in, and called for backup!"

"Ya think!" Boomer said as he prepped his M240.

"We can't let the Taliban have control of this facility!" Daryl said as he knocked the prisoner out with a pistol whip, "If they get their hands on the Forerunner technology it could prove disastrous for not just us and Afghanistan, but the whole region and all of Asia as well,"

Apex 'nodded' in agreement "I agree," she said, "From the Hostile Reclaimer's previous actions, it would be most likely they would misuse the technology here. I will begin preparations to activate the station's failsafe, and to have the Sentinel units hold off the Taliban for as long as they can."

"Uhh...what's the Failsafe?" Sarah asked, a bit uneasy about what that would entitle.

"This station is equipped with a Slipstream Detonation device," Apex explained, "Once activated, it will spread in an area reaching 40 Kilometers wide in diameter, taking anything in the blast zone to oblivion. More than enough to wipe out these 'Taliban' Reclaimers you speak of, and this facility."

"But...we're in the facility!" Boomer practically shouted, "How the hell are we suppose to get out of here!"

"You cannot escape this facility through standard means, both with Taliban forces nearby, and the distance you would need to cross to escape the blast radius." Apex said rather calmly. "However, there is an alternative."

The others looked at the Monitor with anxious looks.

"And that would be?" said Roy.

"I will activate a portal which would take you to my Creator's Universe," she said, much to the shock of the Marines. Fanboy was the first to speak.

"Excuse me?" he said. "Y-Your Creator's universe?"

"Yes," Apex said, "However, I must warn you: Time passes in different rates in our two universes. My Creator's universe progresses somewhat quickly, what was 2,000 years here, could possibly be over 50,000 years back there, if not longer. And I have had little contact with the other universe since my creators first arrived here."

"Well, wherever we end up its better than staying here and getting blown to Slipspace." Al said, before turning to his superior "Sir, I suggest we do as she says." he said, "Trust me when I say I know what's gonna happen, and there's no way else we're surviving this."

Derek sighed, as much as he hated to admit it, Fanboy was right. "Alright...do it." he said. "Get us out of here."

The Monitor 'nodded' again, "Alright, one of the Sentinels will lead you to the Portal Room," she said and the marines nodded.

"What about Apex?" Daryl asked.

"I will stay here and prepare a few things," she said, "After I'm done, I will join you,"

Derek nodded, "Alright Marines, move out!" He said, just as a Sentinel appeared before them, and lead them away from the room.

As the squad of Marines rushed out of the room, Derek turned to Fanboy "You have any idea what to expect in that universe?" He asked, and Fanboy shrugged.

"Depends on when and where we end up," he answered. "I may have a lot of knowledge on Halo, but there are things even I can't tell you since I'm almost as in the dark as you guys."

Derek sighed at that, "At least tell us what we should expect there that we need to beware of," he said.

"Well, two major things we need to watch out for, the Covenant and/or the Flood," he said, "The Covenant are the main enemies in the games, and are a Religious Empire made up of different Alien Species who want the extermination of the human race. The Flood are parasitic alien lifeforms that feed on Sentient life in order to live and gain knowledge,"

"Well, that's comforting," said Megan.

"We also need to be cautious around the UNSC as well, especially ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence." Daryl added, "In Halo, they're like the CIA. I can name a few people in there that would want nothing more than to interrogate us for everything we know, and then kill us to cover it all up."

"Don't need to tell us twice about that," Cowboy grumbled, "Do we have _any _allies there?" "One, possibly." Alphonse said, "Doctor Catherine Halsey, founder of the Spartan Project. If anyone can help us, its her."

"Let's hope so," said Derek as they continued to follow the Sentinels to the Portal Chamber for another few minutes until arriving. The others looked at the ring shaped in the room, that reminded Al of the Stargate from SG: Atlantis. Except this one was big enough to allow a couple Abrams Tanks to fit through.

"Definitely not what I expected," said Daryl as he still had the prisoner, whom he had in a fireman's carry.

"Me neither," said Al, "But it sure as hell looks Forerunner."

Then the Portal began to spark to life, as the ring light up in blue light, and in the center emerged a large black and purple hole.

"I think that's our bus out of here!" Roy said, "So we just...jump in?"

Al however, was grinning "I'll go first!" He said, "I always wanted to live the dream of Halo...so let's do this! BANZAI!" He then rushed right forward towards the portal, and in he went disappearing.

The other Marines sweatdropped at what their comrade did. Daryl sighed, as he fixed his grip on the prisoner and ran forward before jumping in. Soon the others followed as well until it was just Derek himself. It was at this moment that Apex arrived.

"The failsafe has been activated," the Monitor said, "We must leave now,"

Derek nodded and ran into the Portal with Apex right behind him.

Twenty seconds after they entered the portal, the entire facility and the Taliban Fighters that invaded were engulfed in a flash of light as the entire area in a 40 kilometer diameter went up in a explosion, leaving a Mushroom cloud that could be seen for miles.

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**_Two Weeks Later_**

**_South Carolina_**

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_"It has been two weeks since the mysterious explosion near the Afghan-Pakistani Border, which left both Governments and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan stumped with confusion and more rising tensions in the Middle East and Asia," _ said a female CNN Reporter who with a picture showing a mushroom cloud, _"The explosion left a crater 40 kilometers in diameter and unconfirmed reports of a squad of United States Marines that were in the area at the time have continued to arise. Military Officials are refusing to give details, but are not denying or accepting the reports,"_

Watching this news report on an IPhone sitting in the side seat of a Chevy Silverado was a 19 year old young man who had short brown hair and brown eyes who watched this with a bit of interest. He was wearing an old U.S Army Battle Dress Uniform which was in a woodland camo pattern with black boots and gloves, which was completed by a dark green boonie hat.

"What ya watching Jordan?" The driver of the pickup truck said, a man who looked a year older than him with longer brown colored hair and brown eyes, wearing a pair of camo Cargo Jeans, a Hunting Vest and gloves.

"Ah, nothing," Jordan said, shaking his head putting the IPhone away "Just watching that CNN News Report."

"Again?" The Driver said a bit incredulously. "That's like the fifth time! What's so important about it to you?"

"I don't know, it just seems interesting I guess." Jordan said with a shrug. "Anyways, when are we gonna get there Matt?"

Matthew smiled as he drove the truck across a dirt path "Almost there," he said, "You're gonna love this place Bro, I went hunting out back here with Colton and Hunter, its perfect!"

Jordan Tackett smiled and nodded "I can't wait to see it," he said, "And thanks for the gift Matt...where did you get it at though? I doubt you got it at Walmart."

Matthew chuckled "You'd be surprise what you could find at Walmart," he said, "I once found them selling Bushmaster Patrolman's M4A3 Carbine Rifles, which I purchased one for myself of course. But either way, that's not where I got your little 'present' from. Getting the civilian variant was easy, but tracking down and adding all those little military upgrades was damn hard, but worth it!"

"And I'm grateful!" Jordan said smiling "I love it Matt, probably the best Birthday Present you've ever gotten me!"

"Better than the time I took you to the Club?" Matt said with a grin, causing Jordan's cheeks to darken a bit. "You _did _get that one girl's number, right?"

"Are we there yet?" Jordan said, trying to change the subject. Matthew sighed as he looked ahead and grinned "Yeah, we're here!" He said.

The Silverado drove up to what looked like a small makeshift campsite, set up around a few trees and made of some tarp, and wooden planks. Not the most nicest looking campsite, but it looked like it could get the job done.

Matthew and Jordan exited the Silverado "Nice, right?" Matt said, "Come on, let's get the stuff out of the back."

Jordan nodded as he moved to the back and began helping his brother unload all of the Camping gear out of the bed of the truck. As Matthew unloaded the tents, Jordan moved to the back and entered the combination for the safe, and once the locks came off, he opened it.

Inside there were several weapons inside, including a Bushmaster Patrolman's M4A3 Carbine Rifle TA01NSN ACOG Sight and a Vertical Forward Grip, and a Mossberg 500 20-Gauge Shotgun. However Jordan's eyes fell to one weapon in particular as he grinned as he picked it out.

A Single Black Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle, customized with a standard Telescopic Sight, and a Red Dot Sight built in front of it. It also had a Vertical Forward Grip, and a tripod. **( : / / www . sithtoys Mk14Mod0sm . jpg).**

The Rifle was a birthday gift given to Jordan by his Older Brother Matthew, along with his Hunting License. It use to be an average civilian variant MK14 Mod 0 type SEI, however his brother had gone to extreme lengths to bring the rifle up to the same standards of a Military-Grade variant, and from the few times he had the chance to fire it, the time it took to bring it up too these standards were well worth it.

Taking the Rifle and the Ammo Clips with it, he put them next to the Truck and proceeded to help his brother unpack.

About an hour or two later, and their little Camping area was finally set up with two tents, a small fire area, and their supplies stored safely away so wildlife wouldn't get to it. "Finally, done!" Matthew said with a sigh. He then looked at his watch, seeing it was still rather early in the morning, he turned to Jordan "Ready to do some hunting?" He asked with a grin.

Jordan in return grinned himself "I've been waiting for this a _long _time Matt." He said as he picked up his Mark 14.

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**_Later_**

**_In the Forest_**

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After getting their ammo and supplies together, the two brothers set out into the woods with their weapons in hand. It started out as a general hike through the woods, Matthew leading his brother further into the woods, being sure to leave markings to help them get back to camp should they get lost.

"So, we just look for Deer tracks and stuff like that?" Jordan asked, and Matthew nodded "Yeah, anything that can point us in the right direction." he said, "Tracks, Droppings, Markings, anything. Just keep your eyes out for anything."

Jordan nodded "Right," he said before he chuckled a bit "Its a lot different from that Cabela Deer Hunting game, hu?"

Matthew laughed a bit as well "True," he said, "But you need to remember: this isn't a video game anymore, these are live bullets were using." he gestured to the M4A3 Rifle he had. "And you also have to be careful, since there are some things in the woods that could be hunting us, even though its highly improbably, but there are Wolves and Bears you should look out for."

"Yeah, i know." Jordan said, however at that moment both of them heard a very loud 'Yelp!' which sounded rather close by, which was soon followed by a long painful howl.

"What...was that?" Jordan asked, and Matthew's eyes narrowed a bit. "Only one way to find out," he said as the two rushed off to find the source of the sound.

The two brothers followed the sound of the yelping for five minutes until they came upon a small clearing. And in the clearing they saw a sight that made them want to hurt the person who done the deed that they're seeing, very badly.

In the middle of the clearing was a single Grey wolf, something of an amazing sight in itself. However what made them angry was that its left hind leg was caught in what appeared to be a rusty old bear trap, and there was signs of blood coming out of said leg.

"Poor guy must of got caught in the trap," Matthew whispered, "Damn, I like hunting, but even I draw the line when it comes to hunting something as amazing as a Wolf."

"Maybe the Trap was just left here and forgotten?" Jordan said with a shrug "Doesn't really matter, either way that wolf got trapped...what should we do?"

"Well," Matt said, a bit of uncertainty in his voice "First, we could put it out of its misery, easier that way...or, we could try to free it, and run the risk of it attacking us or just running away."

"I'm not killing a defenseless wolf," Jordan said as he began walking towards the trapped animal. The Wolf quickly took note of two humans quickly, and it bared its teeth and let out a loud growl, also letting out a few barks for good measure. This caused both of them to stop.

'_It thinks we're trying to hurt it..._' Jordan thought, before he tried to speak to it "Hey, we're not here to hurt ya." he said, "We're gonna help ya. See?" He picked up his rifle and set it down a few feet away from him. He raised his hands in a surrender pose. "See? Not here to hurt you."

The Wolf still had his Teeth barred for a good few seconds, however shortly after it gained a more calm look. It was still glaring at the two, but at least it was a good sign. Jordan then began to slowly approach the Wolf, once he was close enough he knelt down and slowly inspected the Bear Trap.

'_Looks old, really old._' he thought as he touched the area that the Bear Trap had the wolf in, causing the Wolf to whimper a bit. "Its alright, its alright," Jordan said as he stroked the Wolf's fur "I'll have you out of here in just a second."

He then moved his hands too the Trap itself, grabbing the trap by its 'jaws' "Alright, when I move this, you move your leg out of it, right?" He asked the Wolf. Of course it said nothing, however it just continued to stare at Jordan. "Alright, 3...2...1..."

Jordan then began to pull the Trap apart, the jagged teeth of the trap separated and exited the Wolf's wound. The Wolf whimpered a bit more before it saw its chance as it hopped out of the Trap, free as Jordan let go of the trap which closed right back up with a loud _CLANK._

Jordan then turned to the wolf, who was now staring right into his eyes, his ears erect and his neck arched, slightly growling. Matthew watched this with slight worry as he held his M4A3, preparing to shoot the Wolf should it attack his brother.

Then, too the surprise of Matthew and even too Jordan, the Wolf's ears lowered and his neck lowered. He then slowly walked towards Jordan until he was nearly face-to-face with him, and sat on his hind legs, tilting its head to the side.

"You alright?" Jordan asked the Wolf, once again of course it didn't respond verbally. However it then let its tongue out of his mouth, and began to lick Jordan's face "H-H-Hey, Quit it!" Jordan said, laughing a bit at the grateful wolf.

To the side, Matthew sighed as he shook his head, lowering his rifle "Now this is a story the guys back home will never believe," he said as he approached Jordan. "Come on bro, we gotta go."

Jordan nodded as he petted the wolf one last time before he stood up and moved to leave with his Brother. However as they proceeded walking, they heard the sound of something behind them, and looked to see the Wolf was following them.

"Wha...dude, you're free now!" Matthew said, "Don't you have like, a pack or a family to go back to?" The Wolf whined a bit as it lowered its head, almost appearing shameful. "I...don't think he does Matt." Jordan said, as he walked up towards the wolf, "You don't have any family, hu?"

The Wolf said nothing, just raised his head a little, that was all the answer Jordan needed. Then an idea entered his mind, and he grinned "Well...how would you like a new family?" He asked.

Hearing that, the Wolf immediately perked up and barked once happily. Matthew could see where Jordan's was going with this, and his eyes widened "Jordan, are you kidding me?" He asked, "You want to keep a _Wolf _as a _Pet?_"

"I wouldn't say Pet," Jordan said with a shrug, "I'd say new addition to the family. Besides, I've been asking mom and dad for a new Dog after Hainse died, and this is even better!"

"Jordan, he's a _Wolf,_" Matt said, "A Wild Wolf! Mom and Dad would never take care of-"

"Then I'll take care of him myself," Jordan said, "I can't leave him out here! Come on, _Please?_"

Jordan then began giving Matthew the infamous Puppy-Eyes technique, at first he was able to resist it but then the Wolf began to participate as well.

At last, Matthew succumbed "Alright, fine." he said, "We'll keep him, but you're gonna have to talk to mom and dad about this!"

"Sweet!" Jordan cheered as the Wolf Barked happily. "Well now, you're gonna need a Name now, right?"

He hummed in thought as he looked at the Wolf, trying to think of a good name for him "How about...Balto?"

Matthew blinked at that, "Balto? The famous sled dog of Alaska?" he said, curious. Jordan shrugged as he looked at the now named Balto.

"I like it! Besides he's reminds me of him," he said and looked at the Wolf who was wagging, "Don't you agree?"

The now named Balto wolfed happily, and Matthew could just sigh. "Alright, Balto." he said, "Let's get going you two, we got a whole day of hunting ahead of us." With that, the two brothers plus Balto began walking away from the clearing, and out further into the forest.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Later_**

**_At Camp_**

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

Much of the day passed by, and the trio had not found any deer on their first day of the hunt. The Sun was slowly beginning to come down, and the three were now back at their campsite, Matt was making some Hot Dogs, while Jordan sat to the side with Balto lying down next to him, watching the fire. They had bandaged up Balto's wounded leg to help it heal faster.

"I wonder what everyone's reaction will be when they meet Balto?" Jordan said, while Matt thought up the meeting in his head.

"I know Mom would freak out. Kelly will be the same. Todd...well he'll definitely love him. I don't know about Dad," he said, "I know your friends will be somewhat jealous of you,"

Jordan chuckled at that, "Yeah they would," he said, "Especially Josh and Dennis, those two will be going crazy. Too bad my pals online will probably never believe me."

"Ryu and that Patriot guy?" Matt asked, and Jordan nodded "Yeah," he said. "I always took Patriot as a guy who likes Wolves," he chuckled a bit "If he found out I had a Wolf in the family now..."

Matthew laughed "Yeah, that would be interesting." He said, as he got one of the Hot Dogs. He glanced at Balto for a moment, who looked up at him. He smiled as he broke off a part of the Hot dog and tossed it at Balto, who quickly caught it in his mouth. "Its gonna be interesting having him around now though, that's for sure."

Jordan was about to reply to that, however Balto's head suddenly rose as he got back to his feet, and growled lightly as he stared up into the sky.

"Balto? What is it?" Jordan asked, in concern. His hand subconsciously going for his Mark 14, as Balto's growling increased in volume. Matt knowing a Wolf's senses were better than a human's reached for his own M4A3.

Just as they grabbed their weapons, Balto began to bark threateningly at whatever was coming. That was when they saw it, a shimmer of light which would appear from heat, but they both knew that was impossible as they raised their guns. However two beams of light emerged from the shimmer, which took their guns from them. "Da shit?" Jordan shouted in surprise.

Then, emerging from the shimmering light, appeared a metal silver and grey Machine. Seeing the Machine, Balto began to back up a bit, but still holding his ground as he stood between Jordan, Matthew and the Machine, which Jordan quickly recognized with wide eyes. "Holy Shit...a Sentinel?"

"Sentinel?" Matthew asked, "What the hell is a Sentinel?"

"Its...its something from Halo!" Jordan said, "Wha...but these shouldn't exist!"

Then, an orange light came out of the 'lightbulb' part of the Sentinel and flashed over the trio, which reminded Jordan of the 'Scanning' from the Didact on Requiem in Halo 4. "Suitable Retainers found," A mechanical voice stated "Activating transportation grid."

"Wait, Transport wha-" Jordan began, before a series of golden rings surrounded the trio, and they vanished in a flash of light. The Sentinel stayed for a few moments longer, putting out the fire with an extinguisher, before disappearing with Active Camo once again.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Meanwhile_**

**_Northern California_**

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

In a forested area in the Sierra Nevada Region of Northern California, a couple of young men who were in their mid-twenties were traversing the woods dressed in multicam ACU fatigues, and modified RBA vests in MARPAT camo, with one wearing a boonie hat, and the other wearing a cap.

"Man Daniel, I knew you wanted to bring me up here to try the new stuff you got, but you have to get this far up the mountain!?" the one with the cap, who was 6 foot even, had dark brown hair, and brown eyes.

The one with the Boonie hat chuckled, "Well, we have to be far from civilization to try out your new toy, Drew," he said motioning to the AK-type rifle in his companion's hands.

"Yeah, I know. Stupid gun-laws," grumbled the companion, Drew Joseph Cobb, aka D.J. as he looked at his older brother Daniel John Cobb, "I still can't believe you managed to get a AK-12, a civilian version, nonetheless," he said, as he fixed the position of said rifle on his shoulder.

Daniel chuckled "It wasn't easy," he said, "Not to mention I had to hunt down all of the military grade upgrades it had to make it even better. But you will find the extra time I put into it will be well worth it." "It better!" D.J said with a laugh as he checked out his sidearm, a Para-Ordnance P14-45 M1911. "I look forward to seeing who's aim is better, at long last."

His brother chuckled at that, "Hey, I'm the militarily trained one here, _and _I have two tours of duty under my belt. You're still the rookie," he said only to receive a pine cone thrown at him by his younger brother who glared at him.

"Ass," D.J. said, "At least they're not sending you back there to that shithole again," he said, "Especially with that mini-Hiroshima that happened there,"

"True," Daniel said, as they made it to a clearing, "Well, this is a nice spot to set up camp," he said as he placed his Mossberg 590A1 shotgun against a log, while his brother does the same. They then removed their packs and placed them down next to their guns.

"I like being up here in summer," Said D.J. as he laid against the log, "Much better than being in the fucking foothills or the valley where it's a insane 103 degrees!,"

Daniel rolled his eyes at his brother's dislike of hot summer heatwaves.

"You and your-," he said, but then stopped as he spotted something. Military instincts kicking in he grabbed his shotgun causing his brother to worry.

"Daniel? What's up?" he said as he grabbed his AK-12.

"Shh, quiet! There's something there," he said, raising his Shotgun too where he saw the movement. D.J did the same as he brought up his AK-12. That was when they heard a rather loud humming noise coming from behind them. The two quickly twirled around with their weapons aimed at a strange shimmer, only for blue beams of light to emerge from the Shimmer and confiscated their weapons.

"What the fuck?" D.J shouted in shock, as the shimmering light began to take the form of a rather familiar machine.

"A...A Sentinel!?" Daniel said, remembering the robots from the Halo games.

"That's impossible! These things are not suppose to exist!" D.J. said as another appeared as it deactivated it's Active Camo. The machine then activated a orange beam of light that scanned the two brothers.

"Suitable Retainers found, activating transport grid," said a metallic voice, and before the two could say anything, they and their packs vanished in a golden light.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Later_**

**_100 Miles away from Phoenix , Arizona_**

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

"-talking about..." Jordan said as the golden rings disappeared, and suddenly he, Matthew and Balto found themselves in a very different surrounding than the woods of South Carolina, and were now surrounded by familiar silver and blue geometric structures. "The Fuck?"

"Who, what, huh?" Matthew said as he whirled around, "Where the hell are we?" Balto was whimpering a bit, obviously confused and frightened after the sudden transportation to a place he had never seen before.

"Its alright Balto," Jordan said as he stroked the Wolf's fur. "Just...just keep calm, alright? "

His actions seemed to calm the grey wolf somewhat, as Jordan and his brother looked around.

"Where the hell are we?" said Matthew as he looked around at the corridors.

"Unless I'm going crazy, we're in some sort of Forerunner Installation," Jordan said completely shocked at what he was seeing.

"That is correct Reclaimer!" said a synthesized voice and the two brothers looked up and Jordan's eyes widened saw at what he was seeing. A glowing spherical machine which appeared to be glowing with an orange color.

"Oh shit...a Monitor..." Jordan muttered.

"Indeed!" The Monitor said, "I am 4775 Serene Fire, I am the monitor of Installation 6599. I must say, its quite welcoming to see Reclaimers within this facility once again! I haven't had the pleasure of any true company here in over 2,000 years! When Incentive Apex informed me of your arrival, I was nearly overjoyed!"

"Uhh...Okay..." Jordan said, "but...why are we here?"

"Please, be patient," Serene said, "We must wait for two more arrivals, since I would prefer not to explain more than once."

The two blinked at that, but before they could the Monitor what he meant by that a flash of light caught their attention and the sound of two bodies hitting the floor.

"Ow," said a couple of voices, and Jordan could swear he heard the Monitor 'sigh' in irritation.

"Not again," said the Forerunner AI, "I just had it fixed, oh well it has been a _very _long time since I have used the Teleportation Grid, there was bound to be a few glitches."

"Wait, wha-" One of the newcomers, who was wearing a rather military-like attire said as he looked up, and his eyes widened seeing the Monitor "Ah SHIT! Its a Monitor like Guilty Spark!"

"Damn, where the hell did our weapons go?" The older one said, as he searched himself for weapons.

"Your weapons will be returned to you in due time, Reclaimers." The Monitor said, "I apologize if you were startled,"

The younger one looked at the Monitor with an incredulous look.

"Startled? STARTLED!?" the younger one shouted, "That's what you have to say!? Where the hell are we!?"

"Your questions will be answered soon, Reclaimer. If you would please follow me to the Control Room, I will explain everything,"

The Monitor just began to float away towards a doorway. The two groups blinked before sighing and following the Monitor. "So...how did you guys end up here?" The older of the group spoke up. Jordan shrugged "I was with my brother here on a Hunting Trip," he said, "When we called it a night, one of those Sentinels showed up and next thing we knew...we were here. You?"

"Same story really," The youngest said, with a sigh "My bro here just got me an AK-12, and we were going up the mountains to do some shooting and then we ended up here!"

"Wow, you don't say," said Jordan as they continued on, "Nice get up by the way,"

"Thanks, the RBA was a pain to find. You can thank my brother since he's in the Army," he said, "My name's Drew by the way. Drew Joseph Cobb,"

Jordan blinked at that, "Wait? Patriot-112?" he said causing D.J. to blink.

"How did you know my Fanfiction User name?" he asked.

"Aside from the fact your name is on your profile?" Jordan said with a bit of a grin, "Its me! Jordan Tackett! Remember? 117Jorn!"

D.J blinked in surprise, "Well I'll be damned," he said, "It really is you!"

"Yeah," Jordan said, with a bit of a smile "I was wondering if we'd ever meet in person."

"Uhh, Jordan? Who's this?" Matthew asked, "You know him?"

"Online, yeah." Jordan said, "He's Patriot-112, he's a co-author who I work with when it comes to writing stuff on Fanfiction, like my Gundam SEED stuff."

"You must be his older Brother, Matthew, right?" D.J asked, smiling "Nice to meet you, Jordan tends to speak highly of you."

Matthew turned to his younger brother and grinned as he ruffled his hair, "Yeah, that he does," he said as Jordan glared at him.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Jordan said as he looked at D.J.'s brother.

"You're D.J.'s brother right? Daniel?" he said and said brother nodded.

"Yeah that's right," he said, "And you're one of Drew's Online Buddies?"

Jordan nodded, "Yeah, that's right," he said, as the four continued to follow the Monitor.

D.J. then looked down as he felt something licking his fingers, due to wearing fingerless gloves, and saw Balto giving him a curious but friendly glance. At first glance, he looked like a Siberian Husky. "Say, that your dog Jordan?" He asked, "Looks like a Siberian Husky."

Jordan grinned when he said that "Yeah, he's mine." he said, "But he's not a Siberian Husky." D.J raised an eyebrow "Really?" He asked, "What Breed is he then?" Jordan just grinned more.

"Gray Wolf." He said, and the reaction from D.J. was priceless as said person blinked owlishly.

"Say what?"

"You heard me. He's a bonafide, 100% Gray Wolf," Jordan said, and D.J. looked back down at the wolf, and if he was seeing things, he could've sworn it was grinning mischievously.

"Holy shit," said D.J. while Jordan laughed. "How the hell did you get a Gray Wolf?"

"Found him just recently actually," Jordan said, as he stopped laughing "Earlier today actually, Balto got caught in an old Bear Trap and I got him out. Afterwards, he just kept following me and Matthew so we decided to keep him around."

"Balto?" Daniel asked, "You named him after that Siberian Husky sled dog from Alaska?"

Jordan shrugged "Seemed like a good name," he said, "Besides, I couldn't think of anything better at the time, and he likes it." Balto barked once, signifying he agreed.

"Heh, smart wolf," D.J. said, as he gave Balto a scratch behind the ears.

The group continued onward until they arrived at the Control Room which reminded D.J. and Jordan of the Control Room found on the Halos, the hologram that usually displayed the halo ring surrounding it was replaced by a large holographic representation of Earth.

"Ah! We have arrived!" said Fire as the Monitor headed to a control panel. "Please wait a moment as I contact Incentive Apex."

Hearing that caused the group to raise their eyebrows as Fire shot a few streams of electricity at the console.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Earlier_**

**_In Canada, 1 mile north of Cold Lake Alberta_**

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

"Yeah, this was a great idea," A male looking to be in his early twenties grumbled, his dark brown hair was cut short and covered by a blue Toronto Maple Leafs hat with his dark brown eyes covered by a pair of tinted glasses, He was dressed in a dark brown heavy duty coat over top a red sweatshirt and a pair of worn blue jeans with the hem of the jeans tucked into a pair of hiking boots, his hands were covered by a pair of tough climbing gloves, on his back was a hiking backpack and slung over his shoulder was a C14 Timberwolf MRSWS Sniper Rifle for his own personal protection against the local wildlife "Me, the guys who hates the cold, going out to explore the area around a place called Cold Lake. God I must subconsciously hate myself."

He looked around the area he was in, he had started hiking in the morning and now the sun was hanging over top of him giving off just enough heat for the Canadian to feel comfortable in a fall outfit. Sighing again he looked up at the cliff he was scaling before grumbling and continued the climb to the top. He was close to the border of the Northwestern Territories of Canada and just couldn't bring himself to leave before trying to get a good view of the _true _Great White North.

Finally he grabbed the edge for the top of the cliff and with a grunt he pulled himself up and swung his legs over the edge and rolled away from it "Finally," He sighed as he sat up and climbed to his feet and looked out at the scenery around him "Worth it though." He said content as he looked out around him before turning north and seeing the Northwest Territories sprawled out before him "Man the prairies have nothing on this," He said to himself as he looked at the sprawling untamed wilderness before him "And now I want to go out there, goddamn what is wrong with me I'm always wanting to do the hardest stuff imaginable?"

With a sigh he took off the rifle and backpack he was wearing and opened it up his pack to pull out the lunch he had packed for himself and started munching down on a sandwich his eyes constantly sweeping the scenery, not only taking in the magnificent view, but looking for any threats to him. Taking a brief look at his weapon he couldn't help but smirk in pride at the rifle that he had purchased than later modified from civilian standard up to military standard using military surplus parts that had taken him a good year to track down legally "Worth every penny and second." He muttered to himself remembering the kick of the rifle when he first shot it at his Dad's farm in Southern Ontario.

He paused as he heard a distant scream behind him, dropping his sandwich he picked up his rifle and looked out at the wilderness below him scanning for the source of the scream praying it wasn't too far for him to help. His eyes settled on a blur of movement, he saw a tan skinned woman with light brown hair wearing a white coat/vest over a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans running from something. Moving quickly he unfolded the bipod mounted on his rifle and laid prone on the ground and sighted down his scope scanning the area behind the woman, he quickly spotted it, a large black blur of an angry black bear as it charged after the woman. Cursing the man slid the bolt of his rifle back loading the first .338 Lapua Magnum round of his magazine into the barrel.

Making a quick estimate on the wind velocity which was surprisingly low that day he aimed ahead of the head of the angry beast making sure to lead the target and took in a breath for gently releasing half of it and ever so gently squeezed the trigger.

**_CRACK!_**

The shot echoed out through the forest and the man held his breath until the bear's head blossomed with blood spraying out. He let out a relieved sigh thankful that he not only brought the rifle with him but practiced firing it in various weather conditions until he had an 80% average accuracy rating.

The woman who heard the shot looked over her shoulder to see the bear crashing into the ground as it's forward momentum was no longer supported by it's legs. She stopped her running as she stared in awe at the fallen bear before she heard a shout "Hey! Up here!" Following the sound she looked up to a cliffside to see a man standing at the top holding a rifle and waving at her, obviously the one who had saved her.

Panting and exhausted she made her way over to the man who had hammered a peg into the ground and tied off a piece of rope to aid the woman in her climb up "Are you alright?" The man asked in concern as he helped her up over the edge taking a closer look at her, the woman's dark brown eyes shone with gratefulness she suddenly hugged the man.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" She sobbed out as her near death experience rushed to her as the adrenaline drained away from her body "Thank god you were here!"

"Easy, easy," The man soothed patting her back gently letting her get the emotions out "You're alright now, you must be thirsty after that run."

The woman took a deep breath to settle her nerves as she pulled back and nodded accepting the bottle of water the man dug out of his pack and drank greedily "Thank you," She said again, more calmly this time "My name is Kaiya Taylor, I owe you my life."

"No worries," The man said with a smile as he held out his hand "I just happened to be in the area, the name's Thomas Johnston by the way, just call me Tom though."

Kaiya smiled even as her cheeks darkened slightly but accepted his hand and shook it "A pleasure to meet you," She replied honestly "That was an impressive shot you made too, what was it? Couple hundred meters?"

Tom shrugged "The product of a shit-ton of practice," He assured "I think I spent more on bullets than I did on the rifle with the amount I fired. Although I have to say I am impressed that you were able to outrun a _bear,_ that is not easy."

Kaiya laughed hollowed "Thank god for cross country running huh?" She joked as they sat down on a nearby rock "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing out here?"

Tom jerked his head towards the north "The view," He informed with a grin "I didn't come all this way north to not get a view of the Great White North. How bout you? What got the bear so pissed at you." Kaiya's cheeks darkened again as she ducked her head to the side "I was camping with some friends and ended up getting separated from them and lost," She explained embarrassed "I think I might of passed too close to it's territory and pissed it off somehow."

"Well, I can get you to Cold Lake at the very least," Tom assured as he took the time to study the woman, her shoulder blade length hair was a bit frazzled and clung to the back of her neck, but he could see she obviously put a lot of effort into it, she had delicate cheekbones and a rather cute button nose with pouty lips, her figure was definitely that of a runner with a slight hourglass figure from what he could see, he snapped his eyes back up to hers once he got the once over in only to see her doing the same to him "Let me know when you're up to it and we can head out."

Kaiya's eyes snapped up to his own as she smiled slightly with a nod "Just give me a minute to catch my breath and give my legs a rest," She said "I can easily jog a mile, but sprint any more than a couple dozen meters and I'm bushed."

Tom chuckled "I'm the same way only with walking, I can go for _days _only taking breaks to sleep, but running, forget it!" He said laughing with Kaiya "Are you from around here?"

"Nah, I'm from BC," She said "Vancouver actually, you?"

"I live in Southern Ontario," He answered "And I swear when you get to our neck of the woods, you start hearing the banjo from Deliverance."

Kaiya giggled as his words covering her mouth with her hand "Ontarian Hillbillies?" She asked in amusement "That's new."

Tom's grin falter as he spotted the air above Kaiya that seemed to shimmer like there were waves of heat, only, there was no way as the weather was only in the single digits and not hot enough for that particular weather phenomenon. He stood quickly getting a surprised look from Kaiya as he picked up his rifle and aimed it at the shimmer only for a beam or blue light to shoot out yanking the gun from his grasp "The hell?" He shouted eyes wide as at the shimmering point emerged a floating machine

"Sentinels?"

"Oh my god," Kaiya breathed out as Tom moved her behind him "What is that thing?"

"Something that shouldn't exist," Tom informed studying the machine "It looks like a Sentinel from the Halo games."

Before Kaiya could reply to him a orange light came out of the 'lightbulb' part of the Sentinel and flashed over the pair "Suitable Retainers found," A mechanical voice stated making the pair blink in surprise "Activating transportation grid."

"Wait... Wha-" Tom started but was cut off as rings of gold surrounded the pair before they vanished in a flash of light as the Sentinel activated its Active Camouflage once again.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Northwest Territories, Near the Arctic Circle_**

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

"at" Tom finished as the pair appeared in a flash of golden light in a futuristic looking facility "The Hell... what the Hell?"

"W-What happened. where are we?" Kaiya asked as she gripped Tom's arm looking around nervously "What is this place?"

"This is Installation 1199 near the Northern Arctic Circle," A synthetic feminine voice stated causing the pair to whirl around to face what could only be described as a floating lightbulb with a metal shell "And I am 6812 Incentive Apex, Welcome Reclaimers."

"I say again, what the fucking hell?" Tom growled his eyes narrowing "And what the fuck are things from a goddamn _video game _doing in real life; this can't be fucking possible."

Apex floated there and seemed to study the Canadian inquisitively "Your surprise is understandable Reclaimer," She said as she seemed to nod "And the truth is, I created the video game Halo, that you are referring to, as a way to help smooth any contact with Forerunner technology in the event that I need to summon any Reclaimers descending from the original Forerunner colonists."

"Why?" Kaiya asked "Why did you do it?"

"Simple, I knew a time would come, where one of the Installations or Relays would be discovered," Apex explained bobbing slightly as she moved over to what seemed to be a console "And with a group of what you call 'Marines' finding one of the Installations I had to activate the self-destruct in order to prevent it from falling into hostile Reclaimer hands."

"The explosion in the middle east," Tom stated remembering the news reports "That's what you're talking about."

"Yes, that is correct," Apex informed "But before I activated the Installations self-destruct the Marines chose to use the station for its true purpose, to travel to the Creators dimension."

Kaiya blinked in confusion as Tom's eyes widened slightly "Multi-dimensional theory?" He questioned getting a surprised looked from Kaiya "There truly are other dimensions?"

"Yes," Apex confirmed "The creators were fighting a losing battle against an enemy and the only option left to them was to try and ensure some of their species survived, so to that end, they studied how to cross dimensions. As you can see they succeeded in their endeavour and created six installations and two relays containing the technology to travel to other dimensions."

A beeping on the console caught Apex's attention "It appears that my counterpart Serene Fire has found Other suitable Retainers as well," She announced before pausing "Before I forget, I believe that this is yours."

Apex turned to the two and in a beam of blue Tom's C14 appeared floating before him, something Tom quickly snatched out of the air with a grateful smile. Kaiya looked at him oddly as he whispered 'My precious' to his rifle stroking it and inched away slightly from the Ontarian.

As Apex pressed a button on the control panel an image of another Monitor, along with four people and what looked like a wolf.

_"Inceptive Apex! I see you were successful with gathering Retainers?" _Serene Fire said, as she greeted her counterpart.

"Indeed I have Serene Fire. Well, I was successful in acquiring only two," the Forerunner AI said. "One was by accident, but she shows signs of being a capable retainer. Though it seems you were more successful."

"_Indeed!_" Fire said, "_Four very capable ones at that, along with an indigenous creature that was with them. I have yet to explain to them why I had them arrive here however._"

Apex floated over the holographic form of one of the boys, who appeared to be the youngest and standing next to the wolf. "Greetings to you, Reclaimers." She said, "I am 6812 Incentive Apex, I apologize for how I and my colleague here had summoned you, however the situation is somewhat dire."

"_Yeah well, maybe you can start explaining how the hell you exist in the first place!_" The boy nearly shouted, "_And why did you call for us of all people?_"

Apex bobbed her head "An understandable concern Reclaimer," she said, "As I had just finished telling the Reclaimers I have gathered, the Installations we are in presently are some of the several installations that my creators emplaced around your planet when they arrived 2,000 local years ago." The four people were surprised by that.

"_2,000 years!?" _D.J. said, "_How did you manage to keep yourselves hidden after all this time?" _

The Monitor answered, "We stayed away from local settlements, and our installations were placed in remote areas where it will be hard, but not impossible for your Race to find us," she said. "A few of your Marines and Taliban Forces found one of these such facilities in the middle east."

"_That Crater in Afghanistan..._" Daniel said, "_You mean, you caused that?_"

"Yes," Apex said, "The Hostile Reclaimers you call the Taliban found the facility after following a Marine Squad inside. I had to destroy the facility or risk Forerunner Technology falling into their hands. As the the Marine Squad, in order to save their lives, I had them sent to the Universe of my Creators, which you know as the Halo Universe."

The four figures all stiffened upon hearing that "_Y-You know about...?_" Jordan asked, and Apex 'nodded'.

"Yes," she said. "In truth, you could say I had a hand in the creation of the games and books. I did so that when the day comes for your civilization to discover our technology, it might come at less as a shock."

"_Umm...alright..?_" Matthew said, "_But...about the games...do you know...the future or something?_"

"My guess it has to do with the Librarian," Tom stated getting everyone's attention as he frowned in thought "With the proper knowledge in human psychology and knowledge of the past it could be quite viable to predict how the future plays out, but that's not for certain, my guess is that you want us, Reclaimers, to go to your home dimension to ensure that it plays out in a way similar to what was predicted."

"Yes...that is exactly what the Librarian told us," Apex said, "But she also instructed us to tell you to save as many lives as you can,"

The others blinked at that, "Save as many as we can?" Kaiya said.

"Yes," Apex said. "More specifically during the Human-Covenant war. As you know, billions of lives were lost in that war, and will be lost. It was the Librarian's wish that when the time came, that those who held the correct Genetic Traits that were labels out by her would be sent back, and to correct the wrongs that were meant to be done in her home. All of you possess these said marks, extremely rare marks."

"_But what can we do?_" Jordan asked, "_What can six people and a bunch of Marines do to change the events of an entire galaxy at war?_"

"You would be surprised, Reclaimer." Apex said, "Sometimes, the smallest of things can have the largest of impacts over time."

"The Butterfly Effect," Tom said with a sigh as he rubbed his temples "It's all well and good, but for one thing: why should we? We have no connections to that dimension, we know no one there, everyone and their grandmother will be out to get us _when _the fact that we know about future events and highly classified _military _secrets, such as the SPARTAN program or even the _Infinity_. So, why should we put _our _necks on the line, because I for one have a little thing called 'self-preservation instinct'."

"Did you not put yourself at risk when you saved Kaiya here from a charging bear?" Apex asked curiously, Tom swore that if Apex had a face the expression would be one of amused curiosity.

"Different situations, not only did I have an advantage of being at a high elevation for my shot, but it was happening right in front of me," Tom answered with a frown "But this is entirely different _dimensions _we're talking about. So I asked again: Why should we?"

"_Well...he sorta has a point...I guess._" Jordan admitted, drawing the attention of all of the others. "_I don't know what happened between you and that girl...Kaiya, right?_" The girl nodded that he got her name right "_Well, it's sorta the same thing. The high elevation could be our knowledge on the Halo Universe, which gives us a distinct advantage over pretty much everyone else there. And in this case, it all really is happening right in front of us._" he then shook his head "_And I...well, I just can't turn away from people who need help. If we have the chance to actually make a difference in the Halo Universe, no matter how small it is...maybe it could build up into something bigger?_"

Matthew sighed "_As much as I hate to admit it, but he's right._" he said, "_This is bigger than us, and we have the power, no matter how small it might be, to change something. Like I said, hate to admit it, but Jordan's right._"

"_I have to agree as well," _D.J. said getting a surprised look from his brother, _"Not only will we be changing major events, like saving Spartans who had been killed, like Daisy-023 and Cal-141. And besides, I'm 23 years old and I got nothing to do with my life here, instead of being a disappointment to my mother and most of my family," _

_"Drew...," _Daniel said in concern for his younger brother.

_"And I'm _NOT _doing this to have a pity-party or anything. I just wanna use this one chance to prove to my family, and most importantly, myself, that I'm not a disappointment...," _After he finished, a hand rested on D.J.'s shoulder, causing the Californian to look up and see Jordan giving him a knowing smile.

"_It's okay, Patriot,_" he said.

Tom frowned as he heard that and looked at them more closely "Patriot-112?" He asked getting a surprised look "Jesus, my luck would be great if one of you is 117Jorn," Seeing the surprised look on the one who placed his hand on Patriot's shoulder he sighed again "Story of my life, one strange thing after another, DragonKnightRyu, At your service."

"_Ryu?_" Both Jordan and D.J asked at the same time, before Jordan said "_Holy shit...never thought I'd see you in person!_..._'Course, I said the same thing about meeting Patriot here._" he chuckled a bit.

"_I'll say,_" D.J said with a chuckle, before he looked at Kaiya, "_But who's that? You never told us you had a girlfriend._" He added with a grin.

Tom groaned as he rubbed his eyes and Kaiya blushed lightly "Get your head out of the gutter Patriot," He sighed "_She's _the one I save from a charging bear, now if she wants to date I'll be happy to."

Kaiya's blushed skyrocketed as she tried to curl up in on herself "S-Shut up please!" She stuttered out desperately "W-we just met not even a half hour ago!"

"_That doesn't change much,_" Matthew said with a shrug "_Lot of people teased me back when I first met Kelsey about dating her, and now we're married!_"

"_Matt, leave the poor girl alone,_" Jordan said rolling his eyes "_You can see her blush through the Holograms, cut her some slack._"

Matt chuckled at that, as Kaiya tried to hide her self, "_Okay, okay, I'm sorry," _he said, _"But I gotta say, you know how to save the right person,"_

"Shut it, will ya!" Tom yelled causing people to laugh.

"_So how many other installations are there, and what happened to the Marines you helped escape?" _Jordan asked Apex.

"On Earth, there are six other installations spread out across the world." She answered, "Along with two Relay Installations. As for the Marines, I sent them too my Creators' universe. Where I do not know exactly, however I do know the when: It should be approximately at the year 2530 AD."

"That's about five years after when the Covenant attack Harvest in 2525," Tom said with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes "This is going to be troublesome, we somehow need to find a person in a position of power who would be willing to listen to us without either A) throwing us to the dogs, or B) tossing us in an Asylum before we run into a Covenant Army, if you place us in the middle of one, I'm coming back to haunt you."

"So, does that mean you are agreeing to cooperate with us?" Apex asked, and Tom sighed a bit, and was silent.

"...Ah, Hell, might as well." He said, shaking his head, before he turned to Kaiya "Well, what do you say Kaiya?" he asked with a bit of a grin, "Wanna give this whole thing a shot?"

At first, Kaiya was tempted to just say no, and go home. But...before she said anything, something told her deep inside that if she didn't go, she was going to spend the rest of her life regretting that she turned down the opportunity to go with these guys into another dimension.

She then took a deep breath "Well...might as well," she said, "After all this, I don't think I could go back home and live normally now."

That info popped into D.J.'s mind, "_Wait, now that you mentioned it, what would happen when our family's find we gone missing?" _ he said and everyone became concerned at that, and D.J. turned to his brother.

_"And not to_ _mention you need to back at the Army base in a week, Daniel!," _he said, and Apex spoke up.

"That problem has been taken care of," the Monitor said, causing the others to blink in confusion.

"What? How?" Tom said, confused as to how they can do that.

"_When our Sentinels scanned you, they did not just search for Genetic Markers,_" Serene said, "_They copied your memories and almost everything else about you. Using that, we created biological Androids that behave like Normal Humans. While you are absent, they will take your place in your normal lives. Your friends and Family will never know the difference._"

The others all blinked in surprise at that "_Well...that's one problem solved._" Jordan said with a sigh, "_My mom goes crazy if I'm late coming home by just a few minutes, if I didn't come home for _years _she'd lose her marbles._"

"Yes, Reclaimer," said Apex, "We don't want that. Also, you six are not the only ones heading to our Creators' Universe. During the last two weeks we have been gathering other potential Retainers from around the planet," she said surprising them, "With you included, that makes...14,"

The others were surprised at this.

_"Well at least we won't be alone,"_ Daniel said. "_Where are they now? Are they already at the Halo Universe?_"

"No, but they soon will be." Apex said, "They are at the Relay node at Antarctica, I gathered and informed them earlier this week, and they will join you at one point after you enter my creator's universe as well."

"_Well, we're not going to get anything done just standing here,_" Jordan said as he cracked his knuckles.

"_When do we leave?_"

If the two Monitors could, they would've smiled.

"Tomorrow afternoon, you will be brought to the Relay Node in the Sahara Desert in Africa," Apex said,

"From there, you will be teleported to our Creators' Universe. But, first...," she said just as everyone felt a sharp prick at the back of their necks.

"Ah! What the!?" Tom shouted as he rubbed the back of his neck as everyone else did the same thing as Small Sentinels the size of basketballs, were floating away.

"Before you ask, we gave you a serum our Creators' invented, called Combat Nanomachines," Apex said,

"They are compatible with both Humans and Forerunners. They can enhance the healing factor, strength, focus, and ingenuity of an average human by a factor of 5 times, enhanced vision, and they also decrease your standard aging process by a factor of ten, roughly adding 600 years to your lives."

"_In other words,_" Serene said, "_You have the strength to take on a Sangheili Warrior in a fair fight and win. And that's without wearing any advance combat skin._"

This immediately perked the others interest, and Jordan began to grin. Matthew saw this, and he immediately caught on that Jordan was beginning his 'Planning Phase'.

_"Sweeeeeeeet!"_ Jordan said, looking forward to seeing how these Combat Nanomachines worked, "_I can't wait to try them out!" _

"If you think that's amazing, these Nanomachines are also programmed with Combat Tutorials which contain all your planet's martial arts, including the ones called Kung Fu, and Karate," the AI said, causing the others eyes to widen.

"_I think I'm in love..._" Jordan whispered. "_Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting~,_"

The others all sweat-dropped as Jordan did a quick little 'dance' so to say.

_"Okay, if Jordan is done with his dancing...,"_ D.J. said, "_Does anybody feel sleepy?"_

"That will be a side effect of the Nanomachines bonding with your body. I suggest you get some sleep before you pass out on the floor," Apex advised, and on cue, Everyone began yawning.

"_We have proper sleep chambers that you can use,_" Serene said, "_We will have some of our Sentinels guide you there._" Again on cue, a Sentinel appeared next to Jordan's side of the Comm, and another one appearing next to Tom and Kaiya.

"_Alright, I guess we'd better hit the sack._" Matt said, "_We've got one hell of a busy day tomorrow._" "_Yeah..._" D.J said, "_See ya tomorrow Ryu, Kaiya._" and with that, the Sentinel guided their holographic figures out of sight. It was the same as Tom and Kaiya followed their own Sentinel to their quarters. It was now just the two Monitors as they turned to each other.

"_Do you think they will succeed?_" Serene asked.

"The Librarian had confidence that they will," Apex said, "And I'm willing to trust her...she was right, and the Didact was wrong...humanity is a truly amazing species. If anyone should succeed them in upholding the Mantle, it is them. All we can do is help them find the path, it is their job to walk it." Serene nodded his 'head'. "_Will you go with them?_" The A.I asked.

"Yes," Apex said, "Though they have much knowledge, there is still much they do not understand, much that they must learn and accomplish that they cannot do alone. They will need as much help as they can get until the time comes."

Serene nodded in understanding, before a thought hit her.

"_Do you plan on taking them to Shield 1441?_," he asked, and Apex nodded.

"Yes, it will be the perfect place for a base," the A.I. said, "Not to mention 1441 has facilities that will aid in the war,"

Serene nodded in agreement at that. "_True,_" the A.I said, "_While you are there however, I will continue to search for more Reclaimers who retain the correct genetic patterns. I believe they will need all the help they can get._"

Apex nodded "Yes...yes they will." She said, before the holograms disappeared, and the Forerunner Monitor floated away from the room.

**_0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0_**

**_Patriot-112:_** **_And that's the Prologue chapter of our new fic! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much we enjoyed writing it._**

**_117Jorn:_****_ Yeah, it was actually kinda fun, and quick. We'll be sure to get on the next chapter ASAP!_**

**_DragonKnightRyu:_****_ *Staggers in carrying a bottle of whiskey* Huh? Am I late? Sorry, I found this bottle of whiskey on the road and I just couldn't just leave it there!_**

**_117Jorn:_****_ *Sweat-drops* I should have known..._**

**_DragonKnightRyu:_****_ *HIccups before falling face first into the grounds and starts snoring*_**

**_Patriot-112:_****_ *Sighs* Same old Ryu...Well, we leave this chapter to you, and we'll back with another soon. Until then..._**

**_All: _****_See ya later!_**


	2. Chapter 2: Harvest (Fixed!)

_**Patriot-112: **__**Greetings my fellow Fic writers! I'm here once again to give the second chapter of Halo: From Heaven to Hell. First, we will be checking out how those Marines are doing. Jorn if you would do the honors?**_

_**117Jorn:**__** Right! So without further adieu...Let's get started!**_

**Chapter 2: Harvest**

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Location: Unknown**_

_**Time: Unknown**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

"-ZAAAII!" Alphonse shouted as he suddenly emerged out of the portal. "Aww, that was awesome-hu?" He looked around, and he quickly took note of his surroundings: What appeared to be an old bombed out two story building.

He did a quick check of his rifle, making sure it was still functioning properly. He then heard a swishing sound and he looked up just in time as Daryl appeared out of thin air in a flash of light. "Sup Daryl," he said, "Glad we ended up in the same place."

Daryl looked around as he nodded, "Yeah," he said, and then the same sound was heard as Megan appeared.

"Whoa, that was quick," The Marine woman said, looking around, and spotting her squadmates, "Good to see you guys made it, too." She then looked around again, taking in the surroundings "So, any idea when and where we ended up here Fanboy?"

Fanboy hummed in thought as he headed for a nearby window. "Hmm, the structure is obviously human," he said, as he looked out the window "The whole area is a hellhole from the looks of it...if I were to guess, I'd say we've either ended up sometime during the Insurrection Period, or the Human-Covenant war."

Derek, who just emerged in time to hear Alphonse say that, asked "Insurrection Period?"

Alphonse answered for him,"The UNSC, before the Covenant showed up, was facing a series of Rebellions and Insurrections from its outer colonies, who wanted to secede from the UNSC, since they believe its growing corrupt. But don't start thinking these guys are good guys, since most of them are supporters of Communism, and Fascism. "

"Huh, guess some things never change with Humanity," said Megan, and the others nodded.

"Any idea where the others might be, Gunny?" Daryl said as he checked his SCAR-L. "I don't know," Derek said, "But we better get to them and soon. Who knows what might happen,"

Just as he said that, their radios started crackling until a voice sounded.

"_Gunny? Stone Face? Anybody copy? Does anybody copy!?" _came Cowboy's voice.

"Cowboy, is that you?" Derek said, "Where are you?"

"_Perfect! Glad I managed to reach someone._" Cowboy said, "_I'm here with Sarah and Fox, we ended up popping out in the middle of some old abandoned street, but we moved into an old Garage for now. We can't raise any of the others, where are you and who's with you?_"

"Bombed out two story building," Derek answered, "And I've got Fanboy, Gearbox, and Stone Face with me. I guess this leaves Boomer and Predator missing for now. Is there anything near you that can signal where you are?"

"_Hold on a sec,_" Cowboy said and the sound of shuffling could be heard, "_Ah! Found something that looks like a flare gun,"_

"Alright, send it up," Derek said, and a few moments later, they saw what looked like a blue flare fly up into the sky before exploding, "Got your position. Hold on, we'll come to you,"

"Good," Alphonse said as he looked out the window again, "We'll need to find Boomer and Predator as soon as..." however then his eyes widened and the color left his face "Ah...shit." _This _did not fill the others with confidence, "Fanboy, what is it?" Megan asked, in a very worried tone.

Al said nothing as he turned his Radio on "Cowboy, you and the others better hunker down and get ready for a fight." he said, "'Cause I just found you when we showed up in the Halo Universe."

Derek looked out a hole in the wall with the others, and their eyes widened seeing a large curvy flying machine through the skies above, heading towards the area where the flare was launched.

"What the fuck is that?" Derek nearly shouted.

"That's a Type-52 Phantom Troop Carrier," Fanboy said, "Utilized by the Covenant Empire. We just dropped smack dab in the middle of the Human-Covenant War."

That caused Derek and Megan's eyes to widen in shock, and Daryl cursed.

"Are you shitting me!?" Megan shouted.

"I wish I was...," Fanboy said, "We gotta get to Cowboy and the others fast,"

Derek nodded as he readi his M4A1 assault rifle, "Let's get moving then," he said and the others moved out.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**In another Unknown location**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Elsewhere on the planet, a team of UNSC Marines were in the fight of their lives as Covenant Forces charged at their position, with Grunts, Jackals, Drones and even Elites attacked them.

Sergeant Jason Hauser took cover behind a slab of metal as his Marines were pinned down by the plasma fire being rained down upon them. He cursed mentally "Damn," he said, "They finally give the word to pull out and then _this _happens? Damn, this just isn't my day."

He then heard the sound of a Fuel Rod cannon being fired, and he looked just in time to see a Green stream of fire head towards the position of another marine "Mac, Watch out!" he shouted, but his cry came too late as the Fuel Rod blast hit the area where Mac once stood, leaving nothing behind but a crater and ashes.

After that, he then heard the oh-so familiar shouts of Grunts charging at their position, and he looked up just in time to see a swarm of the little guys charge towards him. Firing plasma pistols and Needlers. Hauser and the other surviving Marines quickly responded, firing their MA5B Assault Rifles at the oncoming covenant.

As they fired at the Covenant, neither noticed the figure in red armor who was observing the battle. The figure was at least 7 feet tall, and was carrying a MA37 Assault Rifle, while on her back was an M90 Close Assault Shotgun. The figure watched the battle unfold before their eyes, as the aliens advanced forward. The figure spared a glance away from the battle, and looked at the small stuffed bear which hung off of a string.

However, the figure then heard the distinct sound of insect wings flapping, and looked up just in time to see a small swarm of Drones on approach, firing their needlers down at the Marines below. The figure watched as one Drone advanced on one of the Marines.

The Figure put away her Rifle and took out her shotgun, and fired a single shot blasting the Drone out of the sky. Three more shots fired, and the remaining drones were quickly dispatched.

The Grunts on the ground see their comrades in the skies fall, and turned their attention too where the red armored figure was. The armored figure dropped the shotgun and retook her MA37 and began firing in short controlled bursts. Sergeant Hauser just watched the scene in shock "What the hell?" He asked, as the figure easily downed numerous grunts with seemingly unparalleled accuracy.

An Elite fired another Fuel Rod cannon at the SPARTAN-II's position, however the Spartan backflipped dodging the attack before returning fire. The Elite's shields were already seemingly down, as the shots pierced through its armor and the Elite fell to the ground. The SPARTAN then began to turn its attention to the remaining Drones in the skies, only stopping to briefly change magazines for its rifle before resuming fire. The Sergeant watched this scene play out, a small smile adorning his face.

"Maybe this is my day after all." he said, before he shouted out "All Right men! Lets welcome our Chief Petty Officer with some back-up! "

The Drones continued to advance, but were cut down by the combined firepower of the SPARTAN and the Marines. As they continued to finish the remaining Drones, one came up behind the SPARTAN, and proceeded to knock the Commando off the ledge. The SPARTAN looked up as the Drone was readying a fatal overcharge shot to the head, only for the bug-like alien's head to explode with the body falling to the ground.

Seeing that the threat was neutralized the SPARTAN leapt back to her feet, as the Marines came up to her.

"Thanks for the assist SPARTAN!" Hauser said, as the other Marines began making sure the area was secure as a Radio Operator approached "We were beginning to wonder if we were all that's left."

The SPARTAN said nothing at first as it sat down next to some rubble. "Don't mention it," the female voice came, as the SPARTAN removed her helmet, revealing a woman who had beyond ear length blond hair and bright blue eyes, shaking her head once.

"How's Gamma 4?" Hauser asked.

The Spartan was silent "Gamma 4 is gone." She said, simply. Hauser sighed hearing that "And that means this planet is finished..." he said.

The Spartan closed her eyes for a moment "And it won't be the last..." she said.

"Sir!" The Radio Marine said, "I have the main unit on the line!"

Then on the comm lines, a broken but still readable signal was heard "_Rescue team will be in accordance with the order to fully disengage. Dispatching a rescue craft. All active units respond immediately._"

The Marine handed the comm too the Spartan, who accepted it. "Team Gamma here," she said, "Roger that, we're completely surrounded."

"_Copy that Marine,_" The person on the line said, the Spartan didn't correct his incorrect identification "_We're dispatching a rescue ship to your location, but I'm afraid we can't exactly give you curbside service. Sending coordinates for an extraction point. Looks like you and your men are going to have to make your own way to the... _"

"Wait a sec..." The Spartan said, her eyes widened just a bit.

"_What?_" The person on the line asked.

"I know that voice..." She said, "Ralph, is that you?"

The Marine on the line was silent "_Wait...Daisy?_" he asked, "_Daisy, is that you?_"

"Ralph...," she said, a small smile appearing on her face as Daisy-023 heard her old friend's voice again.

"Hey Sarge!" Shouted one of the Marines, who had a pair of binoculars, "Get a look at this!"

Hauser went over to the marine who gave him the binoculars and pointed to a specific direction. The Sergeant looked in said direction and spotted a blue flare in the air, about a few miles away.

"A signal flare," Hauser said, and then cursed as he saw a Phantom heading towards it,

"Dammit, those idiots were spotted!"

"Sir, what should we do?" The Marine asked, "We can't just leave them behind, right?"

Daisy looked up at the distance, as she saw the flare in the distance. "Ralph, we might be a bit late for the Evac," she said, surprising the Marines. "We may have additional survivors out here. We need to investigate before we head back."

"_Got it,_" Ralph said, "_Just make sure you're all there when we arrive. Be safe Daisy._"

Daisy nodded, even though Ralph couldn't see it, "I will. See you soon," she said and gave the comm back to the Radio Operator, before putting her helmet back on. She then turned to Hauser and the other Marines.

"Let's get moving," she said, and the Sergeant nodded.

"Right! Let's move it Marines!" he shouted, and the squad of Marines and one Spartan headed in the direction of the Signal Flare.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Not too far from the position where the signal flare was launched, Predator and Boomer were immediately heading there, all the while encountering small pockets of Covenant along the way. Which thankfully were just Grunts and Jackals.

"Damn! These guys are easy to take out, but they're annoying!" Shouted Boomer as he gave the Coup de grace to a dying Jackal.

"Not to mention ugly," Predator said as he used his rifle to raise the head of a Grunt up a bit.

"Hard to believe these guys are trying to wipe out the human race here."

Boomer chuckled "That too," he said as he stomped on the dead Jackal's neck. "Come on, let's keep moving, with any luck that Flare will attract the other's attention as well."

Predator nodded in agreement at that, "Right. Let's move," he said and the two Marines continued onward toward the location.

But as they continued, Predator stopped as he heard something. Boomer stopped as he noticed that the sniper had stopped.

"Predator?" he said, "Why'd you stop?"

Predator didn't answer as he focused on the sound, and confirmed it was a child crying. The Marine sniper then proceeded to follow the sound.

"Hey!" said Boomer as he followed after his comrade. "Hey Roy wait up!"

The two Marines continued running, the Sniper continuing to listen to the crying and following it to its source. They then found themselves at the base of a building which appeared to once have been a tower. Entering the building they continued to follow the crying until they came across what looked like a fallout shelter.

"I'll take point," Predator said, as he entered the shelter first. Boomer sighed as he followed soon after. They walked through the short hallway, and they soon came across a horrifying sight.

On the ground there were two bodies, a man and a woman, both of which had pools of blood under them. However their attention was quickly diverted by the massive seven foot tall, almost dinosaur-like beast which stood there, armed with what seemed like an energy blade. And it was standing right in front of a young girl who looked no older than six, and was quivering under the massive alien.

"The _shit _is _that?_" Richard hissed at Roy, being careful so the Alien didn't hear them. His response was Roy immediately snapping his rifle up and shouting, "Hey! Dino-boy!"

That got the Alien's attention as it turned around, only for part of it's head to explode from the round of the rifle.

"Dead...," the sniper said, and proceeded to walk over to the still quivering little girl, who looked at Roy with wide waking eyes. Slinging the sniper rifle over his shoulder and knelt down. The girl looked to be 6 years old, with auburn hair, and aquamarine colored eyes. "Easy there, it's okay," he said gently. "We're not gonna hurt you, and that thing ain't gonna hurt you either, not anymore at least."

The girl said nothing, but continued to look at Roy. "Are you alright?" Roy asked, "Are you hurt? Did that thing hurt you somewhere? Anywhere?"

She shakenly shakes her head "N-n-n-no..." the girl managed to stutter out. "B-b-b-but .. m- m- momm-y a-and d-d-dad-daddy..."

Roy could see the tears coming out of the girl's eyes and carefully embraced the girl in hug. The young girl tensed a bit, but soon relaxed and began to hug the sniper back as she sobbed into his chest.

"It's okay, you're safe now," Roy said, and picked the girl up.

"Okay let's get going," Boomer said and the two Marines with the girl in tow, left the fallout shelter and proceeded to the rendezvous point.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

"INCOMING! DUCK!" Nathan shouted as he ducked under a Plasma Grenade tossed at him, which nearly caught him on the head. The Grenade passed over him, and landed a distance behind him. He jumped further away to avoid being caught in the explosion.

Standing back up he put his back up against the wall before peaking over, and firing his FN2000 at a Jackal Skirmisher who tried to make a fast charge at their garage, only to be gunned down. "Damn, there are a lot of these fuckers around!" He shouted as he reloaded.

"You're telling me!" Sarah said as she fired her M1A1 out another window "I was expecting Aliens after what Al told us, but this is ridiculous!"

"The little guy's ain't so tough." Cowboy said as he fired his own rifle, which in two bursts nailed two grunts in the head. "And those bird boys ain't too tough either, once you take out those weird shield things on their wrists."

As he said that, he fired his M203 grenade launcher at a group of Jackals, sending them flying in different directions.

"And also they're as fragile as a piece of ice," he said, and then proceeded to fire three round bursts into more advancing Grunts. They were holding their position as they waited for the others to arrive. But they had a very alarming problem...

….they were running out of ammo.

"They better get here soon!" Sarah said, "Megan and Richard had all of the extra ammo!"

"They'll be here!" Nathan said, as he fired short bursts of fire at the alien hordes. "Gunny's never let us down before, and he won't now!"

"What the hell is that!" Thomas shouted, as he pointed out a window. They looked just as another Phantom Dropship arrived and unloaded additional Grunts and Jackals. However the last one out was an alien which wore full red armor, and stood at nearly seven feet tall. The Alien let out a loud roar, revealing its multiple jaws.

"I don't know, but shoot it!" Sarah shouted, as she fired at the new alien. However, she was shocked that instead of hitting flesh, her bullets hit what appeared to be a field of energy which surrounded it. "What the hell?"

"What was that?" Thomas shouted as he reloaded his M203, "Try to block this Split-lip!" He fired the 40mm projectile which impacted the red-armored alien, while Sarah, and Nathan fired their weapons. The results were the field dissapating and the large alien taken out, with the left upper portion of it's body missing.

"Dammit! That was my last grenade-AHH!" Thomas shouted, just as a plasma shot grazed his shoulder, "AHH! Fuck! Shitshitshit!"

"You alright?" Sarah asked, prepared to move to him but he waved her off "I'm fine! I'm fine! It just grazed me!" he shouted.

Outside the Garage, the Covenant troops continued to advance, however suddenly...

*CRACK*

A Jackal suddenly fell to the ground, a bullet in its head. The other Covenant stopped and looked around...

*CRACK*

Then, a second Jackal fell to the ground. The other Covenant soldiers then began to take cover. In the Garage, the others watched this unfold in surprise.

"What the hell..." Thomas said, before their Comm's turned on.

"_Any of you guys there?_" an oddly familiar voice said, "_Gunny, Cowboy, Gearbox, Anyone?_" Nathan grinned as he heard that voice "Predator, you are a lifesaver." he said, "I'm here with Cowboy and Doc, in the Garage."

"_Good, I've got Boomer with me right now._" Roy said, "_We weren't able to contact you before cause we didn't want to alert any nearby hostiles. From what Fanboy told us of this place, its not exactly the most friendly neighborhood._"

"Yeah, no kidding." Nathan said, "I got in contact with Gunny and the others, they should be with us shortly."

_"That's good," _Predator said in relief, "_Hang on, we'll be right there...also, we got a little girl with us,"_

Fox blinked at that, "Say that again?" he said, clearly bewildered.

_"We found a 6 year old girl in a fallout shelter,"_ the sniper said, "_Some dinosaur-like alien killed her parents and was about to kill her before I vented his brain pan,"_

"Stood Seven Feet Tall, wearing armor, split-jawed, and had an energy shield?" Thomas asked, "Yeah, we dealt with one a few minutes ago. It took one of my Grenades to take him out."

"_Yeah, but ours probably didn't have any shields up._" Predator said, "_Anyways, hang on we're coming in._"

As soon as Predator finished that sentence, said Sniper and Boomer began running towards their location with the former carrying the girl in his arms as Plasma shots and needler rounds impacting around them, but thankfully didn't hit them.

"Come on! Move it, move it, hurry!" Cowboy shouted, as their squadmates managed to get through and made it inside.

"Man, are we glad to see you!" Boomer said as he sat down for a second as he got his backpack out "Any ya'll need ammo? Got tons of it here."

"Thanks Boomer," Nathan said as he and the others quickly freshened their ammo supply. Nathan then looked at the little girl who was standing behind Predator now. "So, who's the girl?" he asked.

"On our way here, she said her name was Abigail Burton." Roy answered, as he placed a hand on the girl's head, "She's a bit traumatized after seeing her parents getting butchered like that."

He then turned to Sarah, and asked the Navy Corpsman if she could watch her, which said woman nodded and moved next to Abigail who hid behind Predator.

"Hey it's okay. She won't hurt ya, she's gonna look after you while I deal with the big bad aliens, okay?" Roy said, with a reassuring voice and smile.

Abigail looked up at Roy for a minute, before she nodded "Okay..." she said barely over a whisper. Roy nodded as he left to take Sarah's place as the Medic made sure the little girl was alright.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile, With Fanboy's group**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Derek lead Alphonse, Megan, and Daryl through the wrecked alleyways and buildings of the city, moving as fast as they could too the other's position. In the distance they could hear the sounds of battle, and they knew they needed to get there, and soon.

"Come on! Hustle up!" The Gunnery Sergeant yelled as he led his people toward the shooting.

"Dammit! I can't believe they're managing to hold on, even when fighting the Covenant, an Empire using VERY advanced technology," Fanboy said

"Less talking, more running!," Megan said as the sounds of gun and plasma fire grew closer.

Once they turned another corner, they soon found themselves in the middle of an all out firefight, one one side they could see their own team firing from the cover of a ruined garage. On the other side they saw numerous aliens attacking with lasers and Plasma.

"What the...fuck?" Derek asked, seeing the aliens for the first time since their arrival.

"Holy shit...real Covenant..." Fanboy muttered, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. However then the gaping turned into a full-on devious grin "This is just like Firefight mode on Halo ODST..."

The Marines sweat-dropped as their local halo-expert began to chuckle darkly.

"Uhh, Fanboy," Daryl said, as he was feeling uneasy, and that was on rare occasions, "I know you're happy about killing Covenant. But try to stay sane for our sakes, okay?"

Apparently their radioman didn't hear him as he prepared his M1A1.

"Time to kick some little alien ass!" He shouted as he charged forward, head first into the warzone.

A Covenant Grunt tuned just in time to see Al fire his rifle, hitting the Grunt in the head killing it instantly. "I wish I had the Grunt Birthday Party Skull on..." he commented as he jumped up and fired another few rounds into a Grunt's Methane tank, sending the little guy flying.

By now he had attracted the attention of a few Jackals, who began firing their Plasma Pistols and Needlers at the Marine. However he just side stepped the attacked, and was careful to avoid being hit by any of the pink shards of death before he rolled and picked up a Plasma Grenade one of the dead Grunts dropped. He pressed the activation switch as the grenade was surrounded by blue fire, and he tossed it forward.

His aim was true as the grenade hit a Jackal square in the face, the Bird-like alien yelled in surprise before its head exploded, taking another Jackal along with it.

Then a beam of light nearly missed his head, causing him to duck as he looked at the source and saw a Jackal Sniper with a beam rifle on top of a building. Raising his rifle, he fired a Grenade up at the building, which detonated in a fiery explosion, ensuring the Sniper wouldn't be bothering them any more.

Alphonse then put away his rifle, and picked up two Plasma Pistols and began firing them duel wielded at the aliens, mowing them down, and using the Plasma Overcharge ability to take out Jackal Shields.

The other Marines just watched in morbid shock, fascination, and a bit of fear. "Holy shit..." Cowboy said, "Since when did the kid become a badass?"

Nathan sighed, "He's in his domain now," he said shaking his head, "If anyone knows the most about Killing these things, its him."

They watched as Al continued to go to town on the Covenant Troops. Until they heard a voice on their comms.

"_Cowboy, Sarah, you guys still there?_" came their squad leader's voice and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Man, it's good to see you see ya here, boss," Thomas as he saw the rest of their squad heading their way. "These guys are everywhere! Also, we managed to find Boomer and Predator."

"More like we found you," Boomer said, "Hurry up and get in here!"

"_Right,_" Derek said on the radio, before the team inside could hear him shout "Fanboy! I know you're having the time of your life, but get in the damn garage!"

"Alright, _fine,_" Al pouted as he killed yet another Jackal. And began to head back before his foot tapped against something, and he looked down and saw the elite that Thomas killed earlier with a grenade, however his attention was more focused on the blue device in its hand.

"No way...a Type-25 Plasma Rifle!" He said, before he grinned as he picked up the rifle and ran back towards the garage, meeting up with Derek just as they entered.

"Fanboy, tell me how the hell you did that?" Megan nearly shouted, "You were never _that _good in boot camp! How could you of pulled all of that off?"

"Simple," Al said as he grinned lifting his newly confiscated Plasma Rifle "I play Halo Video Games, never really was all that good with Modern Warfare."

The group all sweatdropped at that.

'_You've gotta be kidding me,_' they all thought at the same time, before an explosion got their attention.

"No time for that! Marines! On me!" Derek said as the squad got into position and began to pour fire into the newly arrived Grunts and Jackals, and to Fanboys horror, 4 Elite Minors, and a Major.

"This won't end well," the radioman said as he used his Plasma rifle and fired at the Elite Major. The Elite roared in anger as it returned fire with its dual wielded Needler and Plasma Pistol, forcing Al to duck. "Shit! Fuck!" He shouted, "Well, at least their not Brutes from Halo 3!"

Roy peaked from behind his cover with his sniper rifle, and fired two rounds at the Elite Major. Al's plasma fire had already weakened the shields enough for the first round to eliminate what was left of its shields, and the Elite only had enough time to roar before the second round pierced through its skull and the alien fell like a sack of bricks.

"Nice Shot Predator!" Derek said as he fired his own M1A1 with Thomas, their combined fire taking down another Elite easily.

"Not a prob!" Predator as he immediately targeted a Grunt and fired, which resulted in the round not only hitting the first Grunt, but also the two who were following it, and igniting their methane tanks, sending them skyward. Predator smiled at that.

"And that's what I call, a triple kill," he said, as he pulled the bolt on his XM2010, and lined up another shot.

Daryl shook his head as he used his M39 EMR, and took down three Grunts, and two Jackals. '_This is fine and all,_' he thought, '_But we gotta get moving soon, or else we're gonna run out of ammo eventually._'

However, suddenly just as Daryl was about to line up a shot at an Elite, a hail of bullets from the opposite side of the street rattled against the Elite's shields, and dropped them before the bullets tore on through the alien.

'_What the...?_' he thought, before he saw on the opposite end of the street in some of the other buildings were what looked like UNSC Marines firing down at the Covenant below. Then there was a blur of Red that jumped out of the building, and landed right on top of a Jackal's skull, crushing it.

The U.S Marines watched in awe and amazement as the figure rose to its full height of seven feet, fully armed and armored in red armor from head to toe. Upon seeing the armored figure, Daryl instantly recognized the figure by her armor as the SPARTAN-II Commando Daisy-023, from Halo Legends.

Fanboy meanwhile, looked like he was about to either faint from awe or have a nerdgasm seeing a real life Spartan in the flesh. '_Holy fucking shit, its a SPARTAN!_' He mentally cried, '_A Real Fucking Spartan! And Daisy-023 nonetheless! That must mean this planet is probably Harvest!_'

The SPARTAN turned in their direction, and Daisy blinked behind her visor as she saw who she and the Marines saved. Eight people dressed like USMC Marines from the Early 21st Century Era, along with a little girl, who was being looked after by, who looked like the group's medic.

'_Why are they wearing antiquated Marine uniforms and weapons?_' she thought, '_And why is that girl here? Anyone who didn't evacuate Harvest back in 2525 would have been killed when the Covenant first glassed the planet..._'

The U.S Marines, once the remaining Covenant were either dead or falling back, approached the UNSC Marines and the Spartan. Derek was up front and was confronted by the massive Spartan-II.

"Thanks for the save," Derek said as the rest of his squad moved out from the garage, "I didn't know how long we were gonna hold out,"

Daisy gave him a nod, "It's no problem," said Daisy, surprising the entire squad, except for Alphonse and Daryl, when they heard her voice, "But...why are you wearing those old uniforms and using those weapons?"

Derek sighed "It's a _long _story ma'am," he said, "And Frankly I don't think this is the time or place where we should be playing 20 questions with all these damn aliens all over the place."

Daisy nodded again, "Alright, but I need to ask why that girl is with you." She asked, pointing to the little girl who was now hiding behind Sarah and Roy from the gaze of the Spartan.

"Found her and who I believed to be her parents in a fallout shelter." Roy answered, "Her parents got killed by some giant seven foot tall dinosaur alien thing...like that one," he pointed at one of the dead Elites, "Only it had Red and Gold armor. It was about to kill her until me and Boomer here showed up," he gestured to Boomer who nodded.

'_That girl and her family must of been in that shelter since Harvest was glassed five years ago..._' Daisy thought, '_But the Covenant found them before we could..._'

The Spartan approached the two Marines and one girl, the latter of which who became nervous at the intimidating form of the Super Commando.

As she got closer and kneeled down, she removed her helmet and the girl was surprised by seeing Daisy's face.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you," she said, and Abigail got from behind Roy and Sarah and steadily approached her. When she was directly in front of the Spartan, Daisy spoke, "What's your name?,"

"A-Abigail," she said, "A-Abigail Burton."

Daisy smiled a bit "That's a pretty name Abigail," she said, causing the girl to blush a bit. "My name's Daisy, nice to meet you."

"N-Nice to meet you too..." The girl said as she smiled a bit as well "Your name...its p-pretty too."

"Thank you, Abigail," Daisy said, as she placed a hand on the girl's head. She then stood back up and placed her helmet back on.

"Alright, you better come with us, there's a dropship on it's way to pick us up," The Spartan said, "But we're probably gonna end up fighting more Covenant on the way there. Hope you're up for a few firefights."

Derek and the Marines just grinned "We've had our fair share of Fights in the past Ma'am," he said, "We can take a few more if it means getting the hell out of dodge."

Daisy nodded, as the UNSC and United States Marines formed up on her, and they made their way out of the area as fast as they could.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**Earth, Forerunner Installation**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Jordan let out a long yawn as he finally awoke from his sleep "Man...what a weird dream..." he said as he shook his head and sat up. "I think I played a bit too much Halo...hu?" He looked around and he suddenly noticed exactly _where _he was. He looked to side of the bed and saw Balto was lying down there, still sleeping.

"Ah...shit." he muttered, "It wasn't a dream...well, guess its not necessarily a _bad _thing that it wasn't a dream..."

He then got up and looked around the room he was in. The walls were a metallic silver, while the bed had sky blue sheets and comforter blankets. He had to admit, the Forerunners lived comfortably before they died out. He looked around and saw his EBR on what he assumed was a dresser. He sighed as he walked over and checked his rifle and noticed that it was sort of...upgraded.

"Hmmm, it feels lighter somehow," he said as he looked through the hybrid scope and holographic sight, and was shocked at he was seeing, "What the hell!?"

What use to be a normal scope with a Holographic sight at the end, had now been upgraded too have a scope similar to the one used by the Z-250 Lightrifle used by the Promethean Knights in Halo 4, with an orange look and everything! He then checked the ammo magazine currently in the weapon, and once again was shocked to see that each of the 7.62×51mm NATO round's tips were glowing orange as well.

"The hell did they do to you?" He asked.

"We Upgraded the weapons you and your friends brought along." A voice behind him said, causing Jordan to Jump, waking Balto up in the process as he whirled around to see Serene Fire floating there. "We upgraded your weapon's visual range and your ammo supply to have the same firepower as the Directed Energy Engagement Weapons used by the Promethean Knights of the Didact. A much more suitable weapon now for engaging both Covenant and Flood Forces you may encounter."

Jordan blinked "Uhh...thanks..." he said.

"Don't mention it," Serene said, "We're just doing our best to make sure you and the other Reclaimers have the highest chances of survival in our Creators universe. Once you are ready, please head for the control room. We will begin sending you and your friends through the Portals soon."

Jordan nodded as the Monitor floated up and away. "Well..." he said as he checked his rifle out again, and grinned "I think once again, our odds at success just increased considerably." He turned to the Gray Wolf "What do you think Balto?" He asked, and the wolf barked twice.

Jordan nodded at that, "My thoughts exactly," he said, and turned when he heard a door open and saw his brother come in, yawning, "Hey sleepyhead," Jordan said.

Matthew glared a bit at Jordan, before shaking his head "You feeling alright bro?" he asked. "Yeah," Jordan said, "better than ever actually. I really feel like I could take on an entire army by myself! Must be those Nanomachines."

Matthew chuckled "Same story here," he said, "Just don't go charging off against an entire Covenant or Flood Army on your own, alright?"

"Yeah yeah," he said, "Your weapon got any upgrades?"

"Yup," Matthew said as he raised his M4A3 "Upgraded sights and ammo. I think we're as ready as we'll ever be when we fight the Covenant. Come on, we should hurry up and meet up with the others."

Jordan nodded at that, "Right," he said and put his gear on, and whistled for Balto to follow and he did.

It took them five minutes for them to find the Control room, and saw everyone there. D.J. was busy examining his now upgraded AK-12 and P14-45 pistol. Daniel was also checking his weapons, making sure they were in fine working condition despite the upgrades. "Hey guys," Jordan said as he approached, "Your weapons got upgraded too?"

"Yup!" D.J said as he grinned checking out his now enhanced AK-12 "I thought it was perfect before, but now this baby is a powerhouse!"

"Same story here," Daniel said as he loaded a few glowing shotgun rounds into his weapon "This thing has been upgraded to have two different firing modes: One fires like a standard shotgun, while another fires like a Z-180 Scattershot! Its freaking perfect now!"

Jordan nodded in agreement just as Serene Fire arrived, "I trust everyone had a good night's rest?" the Monitor said as the four nodded, "Then follow me to the teleporter then!," The Forerunner machine then led the four humans through the Installation until finally arriving in a large room which D.J. speculated looked like a Forerunner version of a U-Boat pen. At the other side of the room was a circular shaped object that reminded them of the Stargate.

"I have a feeling you inspired the Stargate series as well," Jordan said.

"We might have..." Serene commented, and Jordan could swear if the little lightbulb had a face it would be grinning.

Then the massive portal began to light up around the ring, and then the center was filled with blue pulsing light.

"The Portal is active," Serene said, as it turned to the others. "Once you are on the other side, attempt to find the other Retainers as quickly as possible. We will attempt to put you as close to them as we can, however the best we can guarantee is that you will all end up on the same planet at least."

The group nodded at that as they proceeded toward the Portal.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," D.J. said, "Except we could possibly end up in an ONI facility, a battle between the UNSC and the Covenant, end up on High Charity, a Covenant controlled world, or...,"

"ENOUGH! We get it!" Daniel shouted, making D.J. jump.

"Geesh! No need to shout!" he said.

Jordan just shook his head "Alright, let's do this thing." he said, as he picked up his pace as he began to run at the Portal, and upon reaching it he disappeared, Balto soon following him.

"He's right, let's go!" Matthew shouted as he ran forward into the Portal as well.

D.J. cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath before sprinting forward and disappearing into the portal.

Daniel sighed as he fixed his boonie hat and ran after his brother and the others. As he disappeared behind the portal, the portal deactivated, and a hologram of Inceptive Apex appeared.

"_Hey they gone into the portal?"_ the female Monitor asked and Fire nodded.

"Yes, they should arrive at The Oasis shortly, and meet with the other two Retainers you recruited," Fire informed.

_"Good._" Apex said, _"The other eight Retainers are ready as well. I will meet them there, and once they officially meet we will cross through the portals into our Creator's Universe."_

"Understood," Serene said, "Good Luck Incentive Apex."

The other Monitor nodded as her hologram vanished.

"I guess, I'll prepare the next batch then," Serene said and floated off to who knows where.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**Somewhere in the Sahara**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

The four man and one wolf team soon emerged out of the Portal, and soon found themselves under a near scorching hot sun. "Damn...shit!" Jordan cursed as he shielded his eyes "Where the hell are we?"

"An Oasis in the middle of a Desert by the looks of it," Daniel said as he looked at the Dunes in the distance, and the surrounding area of green. However there were also signs of strange stone structure which appeared Forerunner in origin, only covered in sand.

Before anyone could say anything, they heard a loud swishing sound before they turned and saw a door opening on the Structure. As soon as it fully opened another Monitor appeared, which they recognized as Incentive Apex.

"Greetings Reclaimers!" Apex said, "Please, come in. The Reclaimers Tom and Kaiya are already inside, and we are establishing a connection with the other Reclaimers as we speak."

The others nodded as they quickly entered the facility, and getting out of the heat as the door closed behind them. The group continued to follow the Monitor through the hallways until they reached another Control Room. Upon entering they quickly found Tom and Kaiya inside.

"Yo Ryu!" Jordan shouted out with a smile as they approached the pair, "Nice to see ya again! Actually in person this time!"

Tom smirked a bit and nodded "Yeah, no chat rooms or fancy holograms this time." He said, "Though I have to admit...you're shorter than I expected."

Jordan's brow twitched as Matthew, D.J and Daniel tried to contain their laughter, while Kaiya just smiled and shook her head. "Hahaha, very funny." He said sarcastically, "You're not the Canadian Mad Scientist who has a drinking habit and a tendency for mass destruction."

Tom just grinned sinisterly "Give it time," he said, "I'm sure you'll get use to it,"

Jordan rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure," he said sarcastically. "Alright!," said Apex, "I've contacted Reliable Bringer at the Terminal Relay in Antarctica," she said, and then the holo image of another monitor and eight people appeared. Five males, and three females.

The others looked at the people who were going with them and just by looking at them, they came from different parts just by their clothing.

The first was male, looking to be either in his late teens or early twenties standing at 5'8, and from his face Jordan and the others made the guess he was Asian, most likely Japanese, and had black hair which seemed a few inches short of being shoulder length, and black onyx colored eyes. He was wearing a black undershirt with a light blue coat and a pair of black pants, and unless Jordan's eyes were tricking him, the guy had a Samurai Katana Sword by his side, and wielding a Z-130 Suppressor.

Next to him was a woman who also looked to be of asian descent, only she was an inch shorter than the other man and appeared a bit younger, but not by much. She had more lighter shaded hair which was longer, but kept in a low ponytail and had a streak of red dye in a bang which covered her left eye. She was wearing a knee long dark grey skirt with a lighter grey sleeveless shirt. Strapped to her sides were a pair of Z-110 Boltshot's in magnetic holsters.

Looking from them, he saw a man dressed in German Flecktarn camo, and Field gear, including a helmet which was clipped to his pack, and was wearing a field cap. He stood at a height of 6' even, his hair was a dark tawny brown, and finally his eyes were a satin sheen gold. He was carrying a G36KV carbine, which had a laser sight and a AG36 grenade launcher, he also saw a USP pistol in it's holster belt.

He then looked and saw another woman, who wore equipment that reminded him of the Spetsnaz Alpha Group, including a blue beret. She had brown hair with some blonde streaks, light green eyes, and stood at 5' 9". She was carrying a AN-94 assault rifle, that had a GP-30 grenade launcher, and on her back was a SVD Dragunov.

The next two individuals were an odd sight, both were male and from their features appeared to be twins by the look of it. Both looked the same age, had the same dark brown eyes and short crew cut blond hair. They both even wore identical clothes, that being Forrest DPM trousers, black boots, and short sleeved Forest camo DPM shirts. One of the few things that told them appart were that one was wearing a Boonie Hat, while the other didn't. They both seemed to have Forerunner upgraded Steyr AUG's.

The last female was 5'10", had ear length platinum blonde hair, sapphire colored eyes. She was wearing a dark brown winter coat, Swedish M90 camo field trousers, a Swedish Army Winter cap, and a pair of black leather women's hiking boots. She had a AK-5C Assault Rifle which was modified with Forerunner tech, and spied a Saab Bofors Dynamics CBJ-MS submachine gun.

The next man appeared to be 5'11, with short nearly bald black hair, and brown colored eyes. He was wearing a Desert Camouflage Uniform, and was armed with an H&K MP5 Submachine Gun with Forerunner Upgrades, and a Vektor SP1 pistol on his side, along with what he spotted were Combat Knives hidden within his boots.

The last man, was clearly of African descent, who stood at 6'2", had a shaved head, and dark eyes. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a AK-74 magazine carrier over it, chocolate chip desert camo pants with black Ranger Boots, and a jungle hat that reminded him of the ones worn by the Viet Cong, but it was colored coyote tan. His weapons were a Forerunner Upgraded PKP "Pecheneg" LMG, a CZ-99 pistol, and a RPG-7 launcher on his back along with three more rockets in a standard pack.

And floating above all of these men and women was another Monitor, this one with a pale green light coming out of it. "Ah! Incentive Apex! Good to see you again!" The A.I said in a synthesized male voice.

"And you, Reliable Bringer." Apex said, "It is good to see you have your eight Retainers." "Nine, actually." Bringer said, surprising Jordan and the others, even Apex a bit "We've had a bit of a late addition last night, he should be here soon..."

A few moments after he said that, another figure rushed into view on the Hologram, that person looking about 26 years old with dark brown buzz cut hair with a dark brown moustache, and violet colored eyes. He was wearing a black and blue T-Shirt, a pair of black pants, and was armed with a Z-250 Lightrifle, and a Z-750 Binary Rifle holstered on his back. On his hip was what appeared to be a hand-held version of the Blades used by the Promethean Knights.

"_Sorry I'm late,_" the newcomer said, "_Couldn't pick between the Binary or Light Rifles._" They saw the people sigh in exasperation, as one of the twins spoke.

"Ahh Christ. Why did those flying toasters had to pick him up?" said the twin with the boonie hat, in an Irish accent. "He's a rookie!"

"There must'a been a reason," the second twin said with a shrug, "Lightbulb here said he was looking for people that have those Marker things."

"Still, why pick a kid, when almost everyone else here are highly trained soldiers!" The first twin shouted.

"Shut it you two," The woman with the Dragunov said, in a Russian Accent. "He's here, so let's get this over with." She then pointed to Jordan and the others "So who are they? The other Retainers?"

"Yes," Bringer said, "They, like you, have the necessary genetic markers required for this mission."

"Hey," Jordan said with a wave of his hand, "Jordan Tackett, nice to meet ya. This here's Balto," he pointed at the Gray Wolf who barked.

"I'm Matthew Tackett," Matt said, "This runt's little brother."

Jordan punched Matt's shoulder "Who you calling a runt!?" He shouted, causing many of the others to sweat drop.

"O-Kay, that's really mature" said the woman in the coat in a Swedish accent.

The man in the German uniform could only shake his head, "It's always like this with Americans, Frau Akerlund. I should know, I served side-by-side with a few in Afghanistan," he said in a German accent.

"Could be worse," The Japanese boy said with a bit of a grin, "They could have been Weeaboos, trust me, I've had to deal with my fair share of them back home."

"Well, we ain't weeaboos, but we certainly are Otakus at least." D.J said, "D.J Cobb's my name," he then pointed to Daniel "And that's my older brother, Daniel. He's U.S Army." The man with the moustache blinked at that, "Wait a minute? Those names...Patriot? Jorn?" he said, making the two blink.

"How do you know our FanFic usernames?" Jordan asked.

"Dudes it's me! Takeshi Yamato!" he said, causing the two fanfic writers eyes to widen.

"Wha...seriously?" Jordan nearly shouted, "First me, then Patriot and Ryu, and now you? Who's next? Dennis and Overlordmichael?"

"Wait, Ryu's here too?" Takeshi asked, "Who...?"

"Me," Tom said as he raised his hand, "Tom Johnston at your service, aka Dragonknightryu." he then pointed at Kaiya "And that's Kaiya Taylor by the way."

"You know these guys kid?" The MP5 Wielding man asked in a South African accent. Takeshi nodded "Yeah...well, we do online." he said, "Me, Jorn, Patriot and Ryu are authors on Fanfiction dot net, we write fanfiction and stuff there. But we've never met in person...well, at least until today."

D.J. smirked, "It's nice you have you aboard Takeshi," he said, "So did all of you get an injection of Combat Nanomachines?"

Everyone blinked, but nodded in confirmation at that."Yeah...does that mean you did too?" James asked, and D.J nodded.

"Yeah, according to Apex they will give us the edge we need in order to fight the Covenant, and the Flood should we run into them, which is very likely if you asked me."

"Well you know us now," Jordan said, "So exactly who are you? Aside from Takeshi of course."

The Japanese boy nodded "Very well," he said, "Masaharu Yasuji, I'm from Tokyo Japan like my friend Saeko here is. I'm captain of my school's Kendo Club."

"I'm Tomoyuki Saeko," The Japanese girl said with a smile "Nice to meet you all, I look forward to working with you."

Jordan nodded, "Nice to meet you. I would greet you in Japanese but that would make me look like an ass," he said, which caused the two to laugh a bit.

"No worries," said Saeko.

The German nodded in greeting, "Johann Wetzstahl. In Deutschland Division Spezielle Operationen," he said and D.J. blinked.

"Germany's Special Operations Division?" the human military encyclopedia said, "The Bundeswehr's version of the Special Forces?"

Johann grinned and nodded "That's Correct," he said, "Good to see you know your Foreign Special Forces."

"I knew that info would come in handy someday," Daniel said, "Though I didn't think it would be in...well these circumstances."

The German laughed some "Same here Amerikaner." he said.

The Russian spoke next, "Kateryna Zelenyy, Spetsnaz Alpha Group," she said, "I have to say, I wasn't expecting this when I joined the military," she said.

"Me neither," Daniel said, "But we always have to expect the unexpected," Kateryna chuckled "True, oh so true." she said, before one of the twins spoke up, the one wearing a boonie.

"Name's Oscar O'Donnell," he said, before gesturing to the other Irishman "And that's my brother, Patrick."

"We're from the Irish Army," Patrick said, "Engineer Corps, we're both Combat Engineers. And before ya ask, yes, we're twins."

Tom blinked before he grinned a maliciously, "Ya guys drink?" he asked the brothers who nodded, which resulted in Tom's grin to grow, which made the others grow nervous "Two Irish and a Canadian walk into a bar, who will walk out I wonder?"

_'Uh oh...,' _D.J. thought, _'I have a feeling those three are gonna be causing some trouble,'_

The last female sighed as she shook her head. "Svea Akerlund," she introduced herself, "Former Swedish Army, now a Mercenary. Glad to meet you all, and I hope we all get along."

The White African then smiled "James Smithe, Retired South African Army." he said, "Use to lead a spec ops fire team before we all retired a year ago. It feels good to finally be back in action."

Finally the Native African spoke up, "Azeem Ibrahim, of Somalia. I served in a militia, before I was recruited" he said.

The others nodded at that, "Good, we got people who are not only military, but also experienced," D.J said, "At least we're not rushing off into the Halo Universe as a bunch of Amateurs only."

"Gotta agree there," Jordan said before he looked at Apex "So, when do we leave?" he asked.

"The Relays which will take us to my Creator's universe have already been prepared." Apex said, "We can leave at any time."

The others nodded, however it was Tom who noticed what she said "Wait...we?" he asked, "Are you coming with us?"

Apex nodded "Yes Reclaimer." she said, "In order to further your own survival, I will accompany you through the Portal and assist you however I can."

That actually made the Chosen Retainers feel relieved, "Well that's good news at least," Jordan said, "At least with you around, it will be easier to convince Dr. Halsey what we say is true,"

The Monitor nodded, "Indeed Reclaimer, knowing your race's reputation of not believing others when they speak the truth, they tend to judge too easily," she said, which got a few shouts of 'Hey!' from the other Retainers.

Jordan sighed at that, "Ain't that the truth," he said, "Well let's get going! There ain't no rest for the wicked."

"Indeed," Apex said, turning to the hologram of Bringer "Get the Retainers you've acquired to the Relay segment, and prepare for the final transportation." she said, "It is time."

Bringer nodded "Very well," he said before turning to the others "Please follow me." They nodded as they left the Holographic images. Takeshi stayed for a bit longer and looked at Jordan and the others.

"See you guys soon," he said, "and Good Luck."

D.J smiled and nodded "Same to you," he said, "Just don't get yourself killed, alright?"

Takeshi chuckled, "Right, see ya later!" he said and ran after his group. Jordan sighed and turned to Apex.

"Alright Apex, take us to the portal," he said, and the Monitor nodded.

"Of course, please follow me," she said, and the Forerunner AI turned and headed in a direction toward a hallway, with the humans and one wolf following her. It took a few minutes to find the same type of room when they were first brought to the Oasis.

"Alright, this is the moment of truth for all of you. You have one chance to reconsider," she said, while the Chosen Retainers only gave her determined looks. That was her answer as she turned toward the portal.

"Then let us proceed!," she said, and floated towards the portal before disappearing.

Jordan sighed as he glanced at Matt, and then at Balto "Well, here we go." he said before he took a deep breath, and began walking towards the portal. Upon stepping up next to it, he looked up at the massive machine before taking a few steps back, and then charging forward and jumping in. Almost immediately after, Balto ran forward to follow him, along with Matthew who also had a running start.

"Well, time to chew some bubblegum, and kick some Covvie ass!" D.J. as he ran forward and jumped into the portal with his brother sighing before running after him.

Tom turned to Kaiya and gave her a reassuring smile, "You ready?" he asked and the girl nodded as they ran into the portal.

The portal then deactivated, as the 9 Retainers in Antarctica went through their portal into the Halo Universe, beginning the prelude of the rise of a new faction in the Human-Covenant War.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**On Harvest**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Sergeant Hauser looked through his Binoculars as he observed the area of the extraction zone. The spot the Pelican would be landing was beyond a rather narrow bridge across a large ravine. However the area was already filled with Covenant soldiers all over the area. "Jesus they're everywhere..." he said as Daisy appeared next to him.

"All the more reason we should move out as soon as we see the extraction bird." she said. Hauser nodded "Sounds like a good idea to me," he said before he stood up "I'm gonna go find us some Hog's."

"You might need some help," Derek's voice said and the Spartan and UNSC Marine turned to see him and Daryl approach "Take three of my men, they should help you out. Cowboy, Fanboy and Gearbox should be able to help you."

The Sergeant nodded "Thanks," he said as he walked away. Derek walked away while Daryl sat next to Daisy and looked at their extraction zone.

"Reminds you of something, doesn't it?" he asked catching Daisy off-guard.

"What?"

"The EZ...it's reminds you of something," he asked again, and Daisy looked at the EZ again.

"Yes, it reminds me of my home on Sargasso, before I conscripted into the Spartan-II Program," she said, and Daryl nodded.

"I know the feeling," he said, "The last place where I was fighting a war reminded me of Arizona a bit,"

Daisy blinked at that info, "You're from Earth?" she asked and the Marine shrugged. "You can call it that," he said, and then raised his EMR and looked through the scope of the rifle at the bridge and the buildings on the small 'island'. "The Covvie's are well dug in..." he said, "I see Grunts, Jackals, a few elites...a lot of them have anti-armor from the looks of things." he looked at the Spartan "If we're gonna get out of here safely, we need to clear the landing area of Covenant Forces, otherwise our bird is probably gonna get shot down before we even have a chance to take off."

Daisy nodded "I agree," she said, "Before you and your squad showed up, we didn't have the manpower for that. But with you around we might be able to keep the area secure long enough for a safe extraction. I don't want to risk Abigail's life in this."

Daryl nodded at that, "I understand that," he said as he continued to look through the scope. Soon they heard the sound of rumbling engines and four M12 Warthogs appeared, with Cowboy at the wheel of one and Fanboy in another his being a transport variant, and the Lance Corporal could only shake his head at the grin on his fellow Marine's face.

"I love this thing!" he said, but then frowned, "But, why are there six pedals, when there are only four directions?"

Fanboy had to force himself not to laugh behind the wheel of his M831 Troop Transport Warthog, but was failing miserably. "Just *Laughs* Just deal with it Cowboy," he said, "Ya *Laugh* ya get use to it!"

The others quickly got on board the Warthogs, with Sergeant Hauser, Daryl and Daisy getting into the first one, where Daryl rode shotgun and Daisy manned the LAAG. Roy and most of the other U.S Marines loaded onto the back of the Transport Hog along with Abigail.

"Just hang in tight back there!" Alphonse said, as Megan rode shotgun. "Its gonna be a bumpy ride!"

"Didn't we notice?" Sarah said sarcastically as she held Abigail close while holding onto the Corpsman, "Just keep your eyes on the road, Fanboy!"

The four Warthogs headed down the road to the Bridge, while on the small island, they are spotted by the Covenant Troops stationed there. Ahead of them a team of Jackal Skirmishers stood in their way as they fired their weapons. However Daisy in the lead Hog fired the main gun mowing down anything in their way. "Don't you dare slow down!" She shouted to the Sergeant driving the Hog.

"Wasn't even thinking of it!" He shouted back as he drove the Warthog forward, jumping over a crater in the road.

"YEEHAW!" Cowboy shouted as the Warthog he was driving with Derek and another UNSC Marine flew across the road. "THIS THING BEETS A HUMVEE ANYDAY!"

Derek felt like smacking Cowboy for that, "Less talking more driving!," he yelled out as the four vehicles were halfway across the bridge.

In Daisy's Warthog, Daryl was using his M39 to pick off any Covenant troops he saw across the bridge. After taking down a few grunts and a couple Jackals, his eyes widen a bit when he saw an Elite, the same Elite that threw the grenade that caused Daisy's hog to tip over. Before he could a beat on the Sangheili, Daisy beat him to it, as the LAAG fire took the alien down, but before the Elite threw a plasma grenade.

"FUCK!" Daryl shouted as he saw the grenade was in the air. The Grenade landed just ahead of the small convoy, and detonated.

The Blast sent their lead hog flying in the air before it flipped over and crashed on the bridge, preventing the other three Hog's from moving forward.

"SHIT!" Derek shouted, "Daryl! You alright! Answer!"

They then watched as Daisy managed to crawl out from under the wrecked Hog "Sarge! Daryl! You alright?" She called out.

Shortly after, Daryl and Hauser came out from the wrecked LRV. "I will be," Hauser groaned, "As soon as we're out of here!"

"I've had worse," Daryl admitted, "I've survived worse IEDs in Afghanistan, that was nothing."

Daisy blinked at that, but said nothing as she helped the two Marines.

"The Road's blocked, we're gonna have to run at high speed to get to the other side!" Derek shouted, as he, his squad, with Abigail in Sarah's arms, and the UNSC Marines,dismounted from their Warthogs, and proceeded to move around the wrecked Warthog and proceeded to run forward the rest of the way.

Meanwhile on the other side of the bridge, the Covenant were so focused on the Humans on the other side of the bridge, they did not notice several flashes of light from one of the structures, as six figures emerged.

"Whoa shit!" Jordan shouted as he and Balto suddenly appeared, and ducked as they heard the sounds of plasma fire and weapon discharges. "Damn, D.J jinxed us! We're in the middle of a fucking battle!"

Matthew was the next to appear "WHOA!" He shouted as he quickly took cover beside his brother, "Damn, not exactly the best place to end up at! You two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Jordan said as Balto actually nodded its head, being smart enough not to bark at the time. "But we're right in the middle of a battle!"

"I can see that," Matt said, "But where are the others?"

"Like I said, We could only guarantee you would all end up on the same Planet." a familiar voice said, and they looked up to see Apex floating above them. "It seems we have arrived at Harvest, in the year 2530."

Jordan groaned "Great, just fan-tucking-fastic." he groaned. However a few moments later, there were three more flashes of light, and Svea, Takeshi and Johann appeared with them.

"Skit!" shouted Svea as she and the others took cover.

"Scheißkerl! We're in the middle of a firefight!" Shouted Johann as he looked over and saw the Covenant firing at whoever was on the bridge.

"No shit!" Jordan said, "We gotta get the hell out of here and find the others!"

"Easier said than done!" Matt said as he looked over his cover, "Lot of Covenant out there, and on the other side of the bridge I see some UNSC Marines and someone wearing Red Armor!"

"Red Armor?" Jordan asked as he looked up and used his Rifle's scopes to see what he meant. He was right, there were a few UNSC Marines along with a few people wearing U.S Marine Corp MARPAT uniforms, meaning they were most likely the Marines from Afghanistan. However his attention was quickly drawn to the very familiar figure in Red armor.

"Holy shit...that's Daisy!" he said, shocking Takeshi while confusing the others.

"Who?" Svea asked.

"Daisy-023! She's a Spartan-II!" Jordan said, "We're in the middle of the Halo legends episode where she got killed!" He then heard the sound of Engines in the skies and he looked up in time to see a Pelican Dropship in the sky. "And that's Ralph's Pelican...and our ride out of here."

He then turned to the others "Look, we gotta clear this area of all Covenant Forces before that thing lands!" he said, "In the Halo Legends episode, the Pelican gets destroyed with everyone on it! If we don't secure this area, we can kiss our asses goodbye! Those U.S Marines should be able to give us a hand!"

The others nodded at that, "Johann, since you and Svea have more combat experience, you two will be in charge of us," he said, and said German Soldier and Swedish Mercenary nodded.

"Right!" he said as he took off his cap and placed it in a pocket on his field jacket, then unclipped the helmet from his pack, and placed it in place of his cap on his head. "Jordan, was it? How good are you with that Rifle?"

"Decent at least," Jordan said, "Fired it at the local firing range, along with some outdoor target practice as well. So I'm good enough."

Johann nodded as he looked around, and spotted a two story building "See that building?" He asked, pointing at it, "I want you, your brother and Takeshi along with you dog to go up there, and try and snipe the covvie's. Me and Svea will work on taking out enemies you can't see."

"We can do that," Jordan said, "But for the record, Balto's not a dog, he's a Gray Wolf."

"Now's not the time!" Svea shouted, "We gotta move!"

The others nodded as Svea and Johann began moving through the debris, while Jordan lead the others into the building.

Back with the group of Marines and one SPARTAN, the group sighed in relief as they saw the Pelican arrive while it used it's chain gun to take out the Covenant Troops around the EZ. Daryl knew that this will be the part Daisy will be hit, as he kept a sharp eye out for the Covenant who fired the shots.

"Come on! Let's go!" Daisy shouted as the Marines ran forward, firing their weapons along the way at any Covenant in front of them.

Then, out of the corner of both Daisy and Daryl's visions, they saw it: A single Covenant elite in white armor armed with a Needler aimed at Sergeant Hauser. On instinct, Daisy shouted "GET DOWN!" and pushed the Sergeant out of the way as the Needler wielding Elite fired.

SWCH!

Daisy expected the Needles to go clean through her armor, and detonate. She had expected to feel unimaginable pain from that. However she felt nothing, but her eyes widened as she saw Daryl in front of her, arms wide as _he _took the Needle shots himself into his right arm as they detonated.

Daryl's eyes widened in shocked pain as the needler shots detonated, and in a spray of blood, with a few hitting his face, his right arm was blown off from the elbow. The blast from the detonation made him fall him back on the ground hard with a thud.

"DARYL!" Derek shouted, as the eyes of the rest of his squad were wide at what had happened. At that moment the very same Elite who shot him charged with an Energy Sword drawn, intent to finish the Job. However Daisy kicked the Elite with a roundhouse kick, sending it over the edge of the bridge and plummeting to the ground below.

Daisy immediately turned to Daryl, to find the Lance Corporal lying on the ground gritting his teeth as he tried to stand back up, what was left of his right arm was leaking blood onto the ground, "S-Shit!" he shouted, "T-That hurt a-alot more than I-I thought It would!"

Daisy instantly went to Daryl's side and helped him up before quickly taking him behind a pile of debris.

"You crazy idiot!" Daisy shouted at the Marine, as she placed her hand on the wound to try to stop the blood flow, causing Daryl to wince in pain, "What were you thinking!?"

The Lance Corporal managed to open one eye and looked at the SPARTAN, and gave her a small smile. "Daisy..." he said, "I have a feeling that...before this war is over, we're gonna need every last Spartan in the fight." he then grunted in pain "'Sides," he added, "Couldn't let...a pretty girl like you get killed."

From behind her helmet, Daisy just shook her head however there was still a light blush on her cheeks. "Idiot..." she muttered, just as Derek along with Sarah who handed Abigail to Megan arrived.

"Daryl! Shit! Sarah, get over here!" Yelled the Gunnery Sergeant, and the female Corpsman was right there instantly as she took her medical kit out and took three bandages, along with medical tape.

"Hold still!" Sarah as he took a pair of scissors and began to cut the destroyed sleeve of Daryl's uniform, "Son of a bitch, we have to get him somewhere for proper medical treatment!," she said.

Daryl just hissed in pain, however his eyes were open enough to see a shimmering light approaching them from behind. And he instantly knew what it was.

"Get Down!" He shouted as he raised his left arm with his SCAR-L and fired at the shimmer. The rounds quickly hit what appeared to not be there, and the formerly active cloaked elite appeared. The Elite roared as its shields and Camo dropped, however it raised its energy sword for one final attack.

TSSEEWW!

Then, an orange beam of light arced over their heads and hit the Elite right in the head, the blast literally blowing its head off, and disintegrating what was left of its body as its weapons fell to the ground.

The Marines and Spartan looked in shock "What the...where did that come from?" Hauser asked.

Meanwhile in the buildings, Takeshi grinned at his handiwork with his Binary Rifle "Well, looks like I'm a better marksman than I give myself credit for." he said.

"Damn straight!" Jordan said with his own grin as he readied his own Mark 14. "Let's light em up!"

He, Takeshi and Matthew then began firing their respective weapons from their building, targeting the Elites and Grunts with Fuel Rod Cannons as priorities. Their weapons killing and/or disintegrating their targets. While on the ground, Svea and Johann were in the mix of it, assassinating the aliens quietly until their cover was blown, and began firing their own weapons.

The Covenant were surprised that they were ambushed while their attention was focused on the humans attempting to cross the bridge. What shocked them was that these humans were wielding a mix of weapons that were like their own but more advanced, and the same type of weapons the humans they were initially fighting, but seemed to be upgraded.

The UNSC and U.S Marines and Daisy used this confusion to their advantage "Come on, move!" Daisy shouted, as Sarah managed to stop Daryl's bleeding for now and helped him back onto his feet. The Marines and Spartan then began one final push towards the landing Pelican, firing off their weapons at the Covenant who now found themselves taking fire from both sides.

Needless to say, by the time they Reached the Pelican, most of the Covenant were either retreating or dead. Daryl and Megan were the first on the Pelican as they strapped him into a seat. The other Marines and Daisy quickly boarded as well. "Is that everyone?" Ralph asked once they boarded.

"Hold on! Hold on!" A voice shouted, and the others watched Jordan and the others running towards the Pelican "Got room for a few more?"

Derek looked out and his eyes widen at what he was seeing. One of the five people heading toward the Pelican was wearing a German Bundeswehr uniform. Another appeared to wearing a mix of a Swedish Army and civilian attire. Two apparently looked like civilians, and the last one who was waving at them, and appeared to be the youngest, was dressed in a BDU. And also to his surprise, a wolf.

Shaking his head, Derek waved them in "Yeah sure, come on!" He said, "Before more of those things show up!"

Jordan nodded as he and the others quickly boarded the Pelican, Jordan was the last one in. Once he got onboard he turned around and hollered "Yo! Apex!" he shouted, "Come on! We're leaving!"

Then, too the surprise of the Marines, both United States and UNSC, and Daisy, the Monitor appearing from seemingly out of nowhere and approached Jordan "Yes, I can see that Reclaimer." she said, "A rather impressive display of combat if I say so myself."

Jordan grinned "Well, couldn't of done it without the others, and those little upgrades you gave us." he said, "But where were you in the fight? Don't you have one of those Laser things in your eye?"

"Yes," Apex said, "But I prefer not to use it, I am not too much in favor of violence."

The occupants looked at the floating machine with gaping impressions.

"Uhhh, what the fuck is that?" said Hauser as he looked at the Monitor.

"Long story," Jordan said, as his face turned serious, "But for now...LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" he yelled the last part, as the Pelican took off, just as Covenant Reinforcements were beginning to show up.

Jordan sat down into one of the seats of the Pelican, and let out a sigh "Way to close for comfort there..." he said, before he looked at the wounded Daryl. "That guy gonna be alright?"

"I managed to stop the bleeding," Sarah said, "So he's stable for now, but we're gonna need to get him to better medical facilities, and soon."

"Don't worry," Daisy said, "The UNSC _Lady Washington _should still be in orbit, its where most of the Spartan Operations on Harvest are being coordinated at. It has the medical facilities to get him back to one piece."

"That's good," Sarah said as she continued to check up on Daryl and any other wounded.

"Well, now that things have calmed down a bit," Daisy said before she looked at the US Marines and the other unknowns and the strange machine "Would you mind telling me who you people are, and what the hell is that?" She pointed at Apex.

Jordan, his group, and the Marines looked at each other and sighed.

"Can you get in touch with Dr. Catherine Halsey?" both Fanboy and Jordan asked at the same time. Causing both of them to look at each other, blinking.

"Oh god..." Boomer groaned, "_Another _one..."

Daisy blinked but ignored Boomer's remark "Umm...yeah...she's...she's actually on the _Lady Washington _right now." she said, "But who..."

"Let's just say for now we know a _lot _of things," Jordan said, "Many of which might be able to turn this war around and make it a lot less one sided, if not end it all together."

Daisy was shocked by that, but decided not to pressure them, as she looked at the Monitor. "Alright, but would you mind telling me what the hell is that thing?" she said, pointing at the machine as it moved in front of Daisy.

"Greetings Reclaimer!" the female Forerunner AI said, "I am 6812 Inceptive Apex! I am the former Monitor of Installation 1194, also known as the Conduit. My current position is recruiter for potential Retainers,"

"Retainers?" Daisy asked, "And, what do you mean by Reclaimer? And who made you?" "Monitor's like Apex refer to Humans as Reclaimers." Jordan answered, "We can explain that later, but a Retainer is pretty much any human who possesses the correct genetic markers required to help out here. Myself and my friends are such Retainers."

"As for who made her," he continued "I guess I can give you a brief explanation. Apex is a Forerunner A.I."

"Forerunner?" Daisy asked, not familiar with the term.

"Forerunners are an ancient alien race who died out some 100,000 years ago." Alphonse said, picking up where Jordan left off, "The Covenant worship the Forerunners as gods, and consider their technology holy and anyone who would damage Forerunner tech would be in their eyes a Heretic. The Covenant's entire tech stockpile is based on reverse-engineered Forerunner tech."

Daisy, and the UNSC Marines looked at the group before them like they were nuts.

"It is true," Apex said, "But I think it's best that we inform Dr. Halsey of this information, that way we would not have to tell the same story twice."

Daisy sighed "Fair enough," she said, "I have a feeling if it wasn't for you, and Derek's squad we'd probably not have gotten off Harvest in one piece. So I guess I do owe you."

"We're leaving Harvest's atmosphere now!" Ralph called out from the cockpit. "ETA to _Lady Washington_ Seven Minutes."

Daisy nodded toward toward her fellow trainee from the Program, "Right. Thanks Ralph," she said, and then looked around the passenger area of the Pelican.

She saw Abigail, who was sleeping on Megan's lap. Sarah was checking Daryl's wounds, with the latter currently passed out, due to the minor blood loss, and the sedative that the Corpsman had given him.

The boy Jordan was inspecting his rifle, which appeared to be a modified Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle from the 21st century, however it appeared to have been upgraded considerably. The wolf Balto was sitting right next to him, lying on the Pelican Floor while Jordan gently stroked his fur. Matthew was doing the same as him, inspecting his own Upgraded M4A3.

Takeshi was also busy inspecting his own weapons, which Daisy herself had never seen before, by either the Covenant or UNSC. Her only guess were that the weapons he was using were of 'Forerunner' make.

Her attention then focused on the woman in the brown coat, as she inspected her own weapons which were a AK-5C assault rifle, and a Saab Bofors Dynamics CBJ-MS submachine pistol, which were also modified.

And finally she focused on the man dressed in the German Flecktarn uniform, and could tell by his posture he was military. His weapons were a modified G36KV carbine, and a H&K USP pistol. The other Marines were either resting or just sitting around.

Daisy then stood up and approached the cockpit, where she soon found Ralph inside. "Should be arriving at the _Washington _soon Daisy," the pilot said as he turned around and smiled "Good to see you again."

The Spartan-II smiled in return, removing her helmet. "Good to see you too," she said as she sat down in the unoccupied co-pilot seat. "How've you been? I haven't seen you since your dismissal."

Ralph was silent for a moment "I've been good, actually." he said, "After I...left, Halsey actually managed to find a family to adopt me. It was a bit hard, getting use to being a normal kid again...but I managed to get use to it."

"That's good to hear," Daisy said, "Though I gotta ask, why did you join the UNSCDF?"

Ralph shrugged "I dunno...it just felt like the right thing to do." he said, "It might be because of all that training back then..." he shook his head and smiled "either way, I'm actually fairly comfortable with my assignment and my career so far. Though with all these Covenant now..." he sighed again "Still find it hard to believe...and its been five years since the first battle of Harvest."

"I know what you mean." Daisy said, "Me and the others were prepared to fight Insurrectionists, when Mendez and Halsey came and told us what happened..." she then sighed "I guess...I guess you can say I understand why Halsey did the Spartan-II Project to begin with."

"Huh?" Ralph asked, making sure he heard right.

"The Spartan-II's were created to counter the Rebels, sure." She said, "But...look at these Covenant guys, they've been glassing entire worlds and destroying our fleets. Morale in the troops are low...but the weird part is that, whenever us Spartans show up...morale seems to rise, and...well I can't really explain it, but...The Spartans change more things in battle than we realize."

Ralph was silent again, before he spoke "Hope." was all he said.

"What?"

"Hope, that's why." Ralph repeated, "The Spartans...you guys seem to rekindle hope among the UNSC Ranks, you showed the UNSC the Covenant are not invincible, and they _can _be defeated. Without hope, we have no future." he then looked at his hand "I hate what they did to us and the others..." he said, "But...like you, I guess I've come to terms with that, and I can at least understand why they did it."

Daisy nodded at that, and then remembered what Daryl said to her back on the bridge. "Back there on Harvest, did you see what happened?" she asked Ralph who blinked, and then remembered.

"Yeah...I saw how that guy jumped in front of that Needler shot and taking the hit for you," he said, "I gotta say, that was gutsy on his part, and losing an arm in the process. I was shocked he did that,"

Daisy nodded, "When I pulled that Marine, Daryl was his name, out of the line of fire, I asked him why the hell he did that...and he said, 'I have a strong feeling that before this war is over, we will need every last Spartan in the fight'," she said.

"Then I think he's right," Ralph said, "The way the war's going...a few more Spartan's probably wouldn't hurt...though I don't like the idea of Halsey abducting anymore children." "Took the words right out of my mouth," Daisy said, before she looked out the cockpit.

"There she is..."

The Pelican approached a small battlegroup of UNSC ships, ranging from _Stalwart-_class Light Frigates, _Tharsis-_class Destroyers, even a few _Halcyon-_class light cruisers. However in the center of the fleet, was the largest warship out of them all, appearing like a hybrid between an _Atlas-_class Carrier and a _Marathon-_class Heavy Cruiser.

The UNSC _Lady Washington, _one of the very few _Valiant-_class Super-Heavy Cruisers in the UNSC, being a sister ship to the UNSC _Everest, _flagship of Admiral Preston J. Cole.

The _Lady Washington _was the flagship of the UNSC's 44th Space Fleet, under the Command of Rear Admiral Jane Mactire, one of the UNSC's smartest, but most tough minded, and not one to back down from a fight. She was also a close friend of Dr. Catherine Halsey, and it was rumored she was a student of Admiral Margaret Orlendo Paragansky. But unlike the "Fear Queen" as Jane described her, she was more compassionate.

"This is Pelican Alpha 303 to the UNSC _Lady Washington. _Requesting permission to land," said Ralph, and a few seconds later a voice answered.

"_This is _Lady Washington,_ We read you Alpha 303._" the reply said, "_You are cleared to land at hanger D. Welcome back._"

"Roger, and great to be back." Ralph said, "Proceeding to landing. Also, we have one critically wounded Marine here. We'll need him sent to Medical ASAP." He then maneuvered the Pelican around, and slowly approached the designated hanger. A few minutes later, the Pelican entered the safety of the hanger as it landed. The hanger itself was abuzz with activity as other Pelicans, fighters and bombers took off and landed from the hangar bay of the _Lady Washington._

Once the Pelican had landed, the rear hatch opened and the passengers disembarked, Sarah helping Daryl out with some help from Derek. A few medics with a Stretcher arrived almost as soon as they exited.

Ignoring that they were wearing outdated uniforms and equipment, and wielding what looked ancient armaments, the medics helped Derek and Sarah place the wounded Designated Marine Marksman on the stretcher and wheeled him off to the Infirmary. "You sure he's gonna be alright?" Jordan asked, still a bit worried about the Marine as he was wheeled off with Sarah alongside them with Abigail.

"With the Medical Tech the UNSC has?" Alphonse asked, "He'll be fine, they can just flash-clone him a new arm, failing at that they'll get him one of those Robotic Arms like Noble 2's from Halo Reach."

Jordan grinned a bit "True," he said, "You a dedicated Halo fan also?"

Alphonse grinned as well "You know it!" he said, "Private First Class Alphonse 'Al' Williams, United States Marine Corps, most in my squad call me Fanboy."

"Jordan Tackett, though some tend to refer to me by my Fanfiction username 117Jorn or just Jorn for short. Nice to have a fellow true halo fan to help out in all of this."

"Same here," Fanboy said, "Though to be honest I didn't think the Monitor would send up any help at all."

"Well, Apex believes that with our help we can change her Creator's universe for the better," Jordan said, "And I believe her, I mean we just got here, and look what we've done already!"

Alphonse smiled and nodded. It was then Daisy left the Pelican alongside Ralph.

"Well, I said I would take you to Halsey, so I will." she said, "Hauser, you think you can get those Marines something to eat and out of those antiques?"

"Yes Ma'am," the Sergeant said saluting before he turned to the U.S Marines "You follow me," he said, "After everything today, you guys must be starving. And if you wanna fight in this war, you're gonna need better gear than those antiques."

Derek nodded in agreement as the UNSC Marines lead the Squad out of the hanger, leaving Jordan, Alphonse, Matthew, Balto, Apex, Svea, Takeshi and Johann with Daisy and Ralph.

"Follow me," Daisy said as she and Ralph lead the eight individuals out of the hanger, and towards Doctor Halsey's quarters.

Jordan spared one look toward Harvest, before following the rest of the group. All the while thinking about everyone else still on the planet, including D.J., and Tom. It took them awhile to find Halsey's quarters, and after Daisy knocked on the door, using the Spartan-only 'Oly Oly Oxen Free' code. They heard the voice of a woman to come in.

Daisy was the first to walk in with Ralph, and then the others filed in as well. The quarters were large, and had numerous scientific equipment scattered around the room, most of which none of the others could even recognize.

And then, at the end of the room, there she was, typing away on a computer at lighting fast speed. Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the founder of the Spartan-II Project. She looked to be in her late 30's, wearing a UNSC Lab coat. She had shoulder length black hair with some blond highlights, and Greyish blue eyes.

"Daisy," she said without even looking up from the computer screen, and neither Jordan nor Alphonse were surprised that her voice sounded almost identically to Cortana's "Good to see you made it off the planet in one piece...and Ralph, its been too long."

Ralph smiled a bit and nodded "Dr. Halsey," he said, "Good to see you again Ma'am."

Halsey smiled a bit "I'm not military Ralph, you don't have to call me that." she said, "Just Dr. Halsey is fine." She finally looked up from her screen, and quickly took note of the eight others in the room with them "And I see you've brought guests." she said, before she looked back at her screen.

"These are some of the people we picked up on our way to our extraction bird." Daisy said, "Without them, we probably wouldn't of gotten off of Harvest alive. They simply asked to meet you...they said something about having info that can change the war."

_That _piece of info caused Halsey to stop typing and look back up at Jordan and the others with calculating eyes.

"Really now?" she asked, Jordan nodded as he stepped forward.

"It's true ma'am," he said, "Me, Fanboy and the others have info that could turn the whole war with the Covenant around. Don't believe me, ask Apex." It was then that the Forerunner A.I appeared from behind Jordan.

"Greetings!" She said, "I am 6812 Inceptive Apex, and I assure you everything the Reclaimer Jordan and his compatriots say is true."

Halsey looked at the Forerunner A.I with a bit of surprise "And...what are you?" she asked. "She's a Forerunner A.I," Alphonse said, "Like we explained to Daisy on our way here, the Forerunners are an extinct alien race who the Covenant Worship as gods, and their entire technological prowess is based off of reverse-engineered Forerunner tech."

Halsey was flabbergasted by that info, as she stood and took a closer look at the Monitor. "Interesting, I've heard of these Forerunners before, and knew they were a VERY technologically advanced race. I just didn't know how advanced, though," she said as she placed a hand the Forerunner Construct, eying the ancient as if it were a gold mine. Which, in this case, it is.

"Oh my Creators were an advanced race alright, Dr. Halsey," Apex said, "In fact, they were able to perfect inter-universe travel, or alternate-dimension travel as you call it,"

That little revelation caused the Doctor, as well as Daisy and Ralph's eyes to widen in shock. "Really?" Halsey asked.

"Yes," Apex said. "My Creators had many technological wonders, the most notable would be their Dimensional Travel capabilities, the Halo Array, the Shield Worlds, and the Ark. However all of this technology couldn't save them and the rest of the galaxy 100,000 years ago from the Flood."

"The Flood?" Halsey asked, confused.

Jordan decided to speak then "The Flood is a Parasitic life form that the Forerunners encountered 100,000 years ago." he said, "The Flood reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability. They consumed the Forerunners all those years ago, and used their own knowledge against them as they nearly had full control of the galaxy."

"Correct," Apex said. "The Flood had nearly complete control of the galaxy. After my creators exhausted every other strategic option, we were forced to use the Halo Array."

"And what is the Halo Array?" Halsey asked.

"A Weapon," Apex said, in a somber tone "Possibly the perfect Weapon of Mass Destruction ever built. The seven Halo Rings were created to wipe the galaxy clean of all lifeforms with suitable bio masses that could be consumed by the Flood. The only way we could stop them was to starve the flood of its food source. Once the galaxy was cleansed of Flood Contamination, my creators began to reseed life in the galaxy, to ensure other sentient races would live on. However we made extra sure that Humanity, the Reclaimers would have a place in space when their time came."

The UNSC members in the room were both shocked and horrified by the Flood and the Halo rings, but then Halsey asked "What do you mean?"

"The Librarian, one of the last Forerunners in existence who survived the Halo Array firing, wished to make sure Humanity would once again rise to prominence, and succeed where the Forerunners failed." Apex explained, "Many many years ago, Humanity was actually a part of an ancient human empire which spanned the stars. However after a war with the Foreurnners, most of Humanity degraded greatly in technology and forced to live like Cavemen in Nomadic Tribes. It was the Didact's 'punishment' brought onto humanity for what they did in the war. However it was only too late that we discovered that Humanity were not fighting us, but they were actually trying to exterminate the Flood while the Forerunners had yet to ascertain the true size of the coming threat."

This massive amount of information floored Daisy, Ralph and Halsey, who now all had wide eyes upon hearing that. But they were not finished yet.

"Afterwards, the Librarian wanted to make sure that Humanity would rise up to its former glory." Apex continued, "As such, it made sure that humans, and only humans could truly access Forerunner Technology, to a level that not even the Covenant can achieve. Because you are the true successors to the Forerunners, you are the Reclaimers."

Halsey, Daisy, and Ralph were completely floored by that info.

"Of course, The Librarian went a step further and used inter-dimensional traveling technology to appear in an alternate Earth, where my Creators, the Ancient Human Empire, and the Flood never existed," Apex said, causing them the UNSC personnel to be confused.

"Never existed?" Halsey asked, "But why..."

"The Librarian, thanks to her own skills and technology, had also gained the ability of foresight." Apex said, "She saw the future of what lied in store for Humanity, the war, the second outbreak of the flood, and the errors of the Covenant. She knew something must be done to avoid the need to fire the Halo Array once again. Which is why she had given this information to myself and the other Monitors who traveled with her to the second earth to prepare humans who retained proper genetic codes, such as Jordan and his compatriots. However we needed to wait for humanity of that dimension to advance in technology more. However...we still prepared them in other ways."

Jordan sighed as he knew it was time to drop the bomb on them, "You see, Apex took it a few steps further." he said, "This will sound crazy but...she used her knowledge of the future to create a series of video games, books, graphic novels, and films into a Science Fiction series called Halo. The Halo series includes detailed information on everything that happens in your universe, from the day you recruited John-117 from his homeworld Eridanius II, all the way to the end of the Human-Covenant war in 2553 and onward."

The others just looked at Jordan as if he were crazy. "Its true," Alphonse said, "Want proof?...one second." He reached into his backpack and pulled out his Ipad. He flipped through a few screens until he grinned.

"When you first saw John at his homeworld with Jacob Keyes, you played a game with him." he said, "You took a quarter, and you told him to guess if it would land on the head or the eagle. You flipped it, he caught it and shouted 'Eagle', and he was right."

Hearing that info caused Halsey's eyes to widen ten times more if it were possible. The _only _people who knew of that were herself, Jacob Keyes, and John...

"Your...telling the truth..." she said, and Daisy and Ralph couldn't believe what they were hearing.

Jordan nodded "Yeah," he said as Alphonse showed them his Ipad, which showed the cover of Halo: Fall of Reach. "For most of us, Halo has always been a work of fiction created by Bungie Studios and 343 Industries. However Apex came to us, and told us what once was games and books were now real...our shock was about as much as yours. When she told us her plan...we knew we had to do something. We have information on you very future, and if we can, we can save as many lives as possible."

"B-But you're just...a few old Marines and kids!" Daisy said, still having trouble understanding what was going on "I mean...how can you change..."

"We've already changed quite a bit actually" Jordan said with a smile "You're proof of that right now."

Daisy and Ralph blinked at that "What do you...?" she asked.

"You, Ralph and those UNSC Marines with Hauser were suppose to die today." Jordan said, causing their eyes to widen. "That shot Daryl took from the Needler? That was meant for you, to kill you. Then afterwards the Pelican would get destroyed while on the ground by Fuel Rod Cannon fire."

"He's right," Alphonse said as he flipped through some more data on his Ipad, and then showed a short video, a clip that showed Daisy in animated form being shot by the needler, and shortly after the Pelican being destroyed.

Seeing that video clip caused Ralph and Daisy's eyes to widen, and they then realized what they were saying was true. Daisy unconsciously reached for the spot where she was supposed to be hit by a Needler. '_Daryl he...he really saved me..._' she thought.

"And Daisy won't be the last Spartan to die either," Alphonse as he showed them the image of Cal-141, without her helmet on, and her face covered in blood. Daisy's eyes widen at seeing the image of one of her fellow Spartan's.

"C-Callie...?" she said in shock, and Alphonse nodded. "Yeah, she gets killed during an assassination mission with some ODST's to kill a Prophet, by a Brute Chieftain." he said.

"And it doesn't end there. Sheila gets killed by an Elite named Thel 'Lodamee in the battle of Miridem in 2544. Solomon-069 and Arthur-079 are killed during a rescue mission for Doctor Halsey here," he showed their deaths during the rescue mission on the Ipad. "And there are more, Vinh, Isaac, Malcolm, and a lot of other Spartans are killed when Reach falls to the Covenant in 2552."

"By the end of the war," Jordan said, "There are very few Spartan-II's left, about nine in total including John, Fred, Kelly, Alice, Linda, Douglas, Naomi, Jerome, and Maria." That news hit them like a sack of bricks. "Their...their all..." Daisy managed to get out.

"Yeah," Alphonse said, "But they're all just listed as Missing in Action of course." He then smiled a bit "But that's changing now. You're still alive Daisy, which means that if we can save you, then we can save the other Spartan's as well...along with the Spartan-III's"

Halsey blinked at that.

"Spartan-III's?" she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Ackerson," Jordan said with distaste, "Creates a copy program of your Spartans, the Spartan-III's. He plans on them being mass produced Spartans, training 300 at a time with children who have been orphaned in the war. The _problem _is that the III's were created for suicide missions. The first two companies created, Alpha and Beta Companies, are nearly completely wiped out on their first missions by Covenant, rounding to about 600 Spartan's dying."

Daisy, Ralph, and Halsey were horrified by that.

"6-600!?" Ralph said in horror, "But...But that's insane!"

"Yeah, and one of the III's Lucy B091 was so traumatized by the Operation that wiped out all of Beta Company, except for her and Tom B292, that she became diagnosed with Post Traumatic Vocal Disarticulation," Jordan said, remembering what happened on Operation: TORPEDOE.

Halsey's fists clenched and grit her teeth, and Daisy and Ralph saw one of the very few times Halsey actually showed visible anger. "That Bastard..." she growled, "He completely spat on what it means to be a Spartan!"

"Just so you know, he's gonna train the III's on a planet called Onyx." Jordan informed her, "Which also happens to be a Forerunner Shield world in disguise, a planet built by the Forerunners to act as a bomb shelter against the firing of the Halo Rings. Training begins next year in 2531."

Hearing that, Halsey smiled a bit knowing what he was doing "Thank you," she said, "I'll have to look into that."

"Just make sure the bastard suffers somehow," Jordan said, "Though his work set the groundwork for additional Spartan's created after the war, the Spartan-IV's, he failed in their execution resulting in their deaths."

Halsey nodded "Trust me, he will." she said, "This information you've given to me will be invaluable in time...but you do realize that ONI will stop at nothing to get their hands on you?"

"That's why we came to you first," Alphonse said, "You are among the few people in the Halo Universe who we can completely trust and trust us in return. We want to help you, but in turn we just need your help to keep people like ONI off of our backs."

Halsey smiled and nodded "Fair enough, it shouldn't be too hard." she said. "Anyways, is there anything else I can do for you for now?"

"Actually, yes." Jordan said, "We could use your help to find our friends and allies, other Retainers who arrived in this universe as we did. Apex said she knows we've all ended up on the same planet, that being Harvest, but we need help to locate all of them and get them off the planet."

Halsey nodded at that, "I'll see what I can do. How many are there?"

"Ten, plus us," Johann said, "A few of them are military, but the rest are Civilians"

Halsey nodded and picked up a communicators on her desk, "ONI authorization-code Sierra 14770," she said, and waited a few moments for the person on the other end answered. "_Catherine? What is it?_" Another female voice, with a slight Irish accent, said.

"Jane, I need you to do me a favor," she said, "I just received some very sensitive intel from one of my Spartan's who just returned. I need you to locate ten individuals on Harvest. They have vital intel about the Covenant, and a plausible way to turn this war around."

There was another pause on the comm "_You sure about this?_" Jane asked.

"Positive," Halsey said. "They could be the key to winning this whole war."

Then Jane sighed "_Alright, I'll tell our forces still on the ground to keep an eye out for them._" she said, "_You have any data I can send so they know who they're looking for._"

Halsey looked up at Apex, the Forerunner A.I nodded as it approached the Terminal, and wirelessly downloaded the data on Jordan and the other Retainers. "There you have it," Halsey said. "Contact me if any of these individuals are located."

"_You got it, I'll report to you when I do," _Jane said and cut the link. Halsey then turned back to the group.

"Well, since you're going to be staying here for a awhile. I suggest you all get into something more...inconspicuous," she said causing the group to blink, but Alphonse and Jordan understood what she meant, and grinned.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the armory on this ship is do you?" Jordan asked.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**On Harvest**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

"WHOA SHIT!" D.J shouted as he popped out of thin air and skidded to a halt as he quickly tried to regain his balance, succeeding in doing so.

Once he got his bearings he looked around the area he ended up at, and he quickly took note of the war torn surroundings including collapsed buildings and bombed out structures "Not exactly a very warming sight..." he said to himself.

"Kuso!" he heard a female voice shout and turned around just in time only to barreled into.

"Oomph!"

The two went down with a hard thud with D.J. having swirls in his eyes.

"Ow, my head," the voice said again, "Oh, D.J.-san! I'm so sorry!'

D.J blinked as his eyes refocused, and on top of him he saw the Japanese girl from the Hologram projection, Saeko Tomoyuki if he remembered correctly.

"Its alright," he said before he looked at their current position, and blushed seeing how she was on top of him "But uh...could you get off of me please?"

Saeko blinked before she looked at the position as well, and she blushed a few interesting shades of red "R-Right, sorry." She said as she stood up, and helped D.J get back onto his feet.

"Thanks," he said, and looked around, "Now we need to look around and find something that'll tell us where we are,"

Saeko nodded, but before they could move.

"FUCK!" shouted a voice that D.J. immediately recognized, as he turned around and saw his brother, face-planted into the ground.

"I'm fine! I broke the fall with my face...ow!" he said.

"Bro! Hang on we'll help you up!" D.J. said as he and Saeko helped him up.

"Ahg! Damn, I'm gonna feel that one in the morning..." Daniel said as he shook his head and looked at the two "Well, good thing we're together bro," he said before turning to Saeko "And your name's uhh...Saeko right?"

The Japanese girl smiled and nodded "Yeah, that's right." she said, "And your Daniel-san, D.J-san's brother."

"Yup," he said, just before they heard a series of shouts in African, Russian and Japanese behind them, and they looked to see Azeem Ibrahim, Yasuji Masaharu, and Kateryna Zelenyy appear behind them crashing into the ground.

"Oh crap!" said D.J. as they went over and helped the three up.

"You guys okay?" Daniel asked as he and the others helped them up, with Saeko helping Yasuji, Daniel with Kateryna, and D.J. with Azeem.

"Da, I'm alright," the Russian said, "And so are my weapons,"

"I've had worse," Azeem said as he checked his own PKP. "So where are we?"

"Hmm..." D.J hummed as he looked at the Alleyway they were stuck in, he then began walking out of the alley and looked around the surrounding area, "Well, it certainly ain't Earth." he said, "But there's no sign of the others anywhere here."

"But they must be here somewhere," Yasuji commented as the others left the alleyway. "The Monitors said that we would all end up on the same planet at least."

"Yeah, but which one?" D.J. said, as they walked down a street, all the while keeping alert, "And it's not like the answer will just slap in our faces-,"

FWAP!

Startled, that a piece of paper slapped into him, he quickly pulled it off his face and saw it was a newspaper. But what was written on the Newspaper, made his eyes widen. "Oh...shit," he said, and the others gathered around, and saw what it read:

'_Harvest Daily News_'

"Harvest..." D.J muttered, "We're on fucking Harvest! Where the Human-Covenant war began!"

"Probably right in the middle of it too," Daniel said, "This Newspaper reads it being 2525, Apex said we'd be arriving in 2530, some time during the Harvest Campaign."

"We gotta find the others, and quick." Kateryna said, "Let's hope that Monitor at least put us in the same city."

D.J. nodded, "I hope so, too," he said as he threw the newspaper away, and the group went searching for their friends.

Unknown to them, in a bombed out building, a figure saw the flashes of light, and looked out of his observation position and spotted the group. The figure wore green armor that had a few dents and scratches, showing it saw some major combat, and a golden visor. On the chest piece of the armor was the number 117.

"This is SPARTAN-117 to Blue Team," the Legendary John-117 said, "I have eyes on six of the High Priority Targets. Their heading out further into the city."

"_Copy that Chief,_" A female voice responded, "_Got a bit of a snag though, Covenant have set up a few AA Towers in the area, we can't call in for an extraction bird until they're taken out._"

"Copy that Kelly." He said, "Get in contact with Linda and Fred, we'll rendezvous near the first tower and take it out. I'll get the HPT's."

"_Will do,_" Kelly said, "_Just don't scare them half to death, alright?_"

John couldn't help but smile a bit, "Right, copy that," he said, "See you at the rendezvous,"

"_10-4, see ya there," _Kelly said and cut the link. John then looked back at the people he was suppose to bring back to the _Lady Washington, _and couldn't help but wonder why Doctor Halsey asked for this specific group to be brought back to the ship. He shook his head knowing the doctor will tell him after the mission.

With that, he began to follow after the 6 targets, at a distance but being sure to keep them in visual range.

The six man group continued forward, with Daniel and D.J up front with Azeem right behind them with the others, all of them with their weapons out and ready for a fight. "Keep your eyes and ears open," Daniel said, "We have no idea what we could run into out here."

"No, but I have an idea," D.J said, "Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, Elites and-" however D.J then stopped, as the team heard what sounded like two large _THUMPS!_

"What the hell was that?" Yasuji said.

D.J looked around, "I have no idea-" he began to say, before a beam of light passed right by their team, by some miracle not hitting them, however the light hit a nearby car that D.J was too close to, resulting in an explosion that sent him flying a few feet away..

"DREW!" Daniel shouted as he was immediately at his brother's side. The team looked to the source of the blast, and saw two massive and cumbersome figures clad in dark blue armor with massive shields and cannons on their arms.

"FUCK! HUNTERS!" Saeko shouted, knowing very well what the massive aliens were.

"Off the Streets! Now!" Azeem shouted as he and the team opened fire on the Hunters, but their weapons just impacting against the Hunter's strong armor as Daniel quickly picked up his younger brother and the team entered the closest bombed out building for some cover. "Drew! You alright?" Daniel said as he checked his brother's wounds, which consisted of three deep scratches across his face.

"F-Fuck! Now I know h-how that Marine on Battle: LA felt," he hissed out in pain, as his brother brought out the first aid pack.

"Those Hunter's are coming!" Azeem shouted as he took out his RPG-7, "Let's see how they take this!" And he fired the weapon. The Rocket Propelled Grenade flew forward towards the lead Hunter, however the Hunter rose its shield and intercepted the attack as the rocket detonated, barely putting a dent into it.

"Der'mo!" Kateryna cursed in Russia, "What the hell does it take to kill those things!"

"We have to get behind them!" Saeko shouted as she fired her Boltshots, "Their skin is exposed on their backs, its their weak point!"

"She's right," D.J. said, as he winced as his brother started to apply bandages to his face,"The best way to take them out is from behind," he then looked at Kateryna, "Can you find a spot to pick them off with your Dragunov?"

Kateryna blinked before she smirked, "No problem," she said before she rushed off into the shadows and disappeared.

The Hunter pair continued to advance, firing their Fuel Rod cannons at the position the group were pinned down in. However they were so focused on them they didn't notice Kateryna slip out the back and move around them. She crossed the street and moved into a three story building on the opposite side and quickly scaled the stairs onto the top level.

Once she reached the top floor, she lied down in a prone position as she targeted the two Hunters. As D.J and Saeko confirmed, she could see the orange flesh of the Hunters backs. She took her Forerunner modified Dragunov off her back, after placing her AN-94 to the side.

Setting herself up, and looking through the scope and smiled.

" Do'svidanʹya big boy," she whispered and squeezed the trigger as the modified 7.62 X 54R bullet shot out of the Soviet-made rifle, and struck true.

The Hunter roared in pain, but the shot didn't kill the beast as it turned around, exposing its back to the others, just as Azeem reloaded his RPG. He brought it out again and fired another shot. The Rocket hit the Hunter's exposed back, and detonating forcing the beast to the ground, dead.

The Hunter's brother roared in rage as it charged forward, intent to avenge his death. Azeem was in the process of Reloading his RPG, however then a hail of bullets struck the side of the Hunter.

**(Begin Playing: 'Truth and Reconciliation' from Halo OST)**

"What the...?" Azeem said as the team turned towards the source. There they saw a green armored figure charging at the Hunter, firing an MA5B assault rifle all the way.

The Hunter turned its attention to the new threat, charging up its fuel rod cannon again. When it fired, the figure jumped over the blast and over the hunter in a single leap, before it landed behind the Hunter and turned around as it fired the assault rifle into the Hunter's exposed skin.

However the Hunter quickly rose its shield and attempted to bash the armored figure away, but once again he jumped out of harm's way. However this time he landed on the Hunter's back, and grabbed onto its spikes.

The Hunter then began trying to shake him off, however the armored figure drew out a Grenade, and jabbed it into the Hunter's skin before he jumped away once again. The Hunter turned around, preparing to fire its Fuel Rod one last time...

...only for the Hunter to explode on the spot, orange blood splattering everywhere.

**(Music End)**

**(Begin Playing Halo Theme)**

"Shit...," said Yasuji as he and the others how saw the figure massacred the Hunter. D.J. managed to see what happened, even though half of his was covered in bandages, as his visible eye widened at what he was seeing.

"A Spartan...a real live Spartan," he said lowly. As the Spartan turned around, D.J.'s eyes widened more when he saw the white numbers on the chest plate.

"The...the Chief," he said, as his older brother lifted him up, while placing his cap back on his head. "It's...that...its him! The Master Chief!"

Daniel's eyes widened as he looked at the Spartan, and sure enough, seeing the Numbers there was no doubt about it. "Holy shit...it is..."

The Master Chief walked towards the group, just as Kateryna arrived as well. "Are you alright?" The Chief asked them, his voice sounding a bit younger than it does in the halo trilogy.

Daniel managed to shake his head, as he and Saeko helped D.J. outside.

"Yeah, but, my brother here took some shrapnel to the face. Not big pieces, but they'll leave him with three scars," he said as the Chief moved over to them to get a look at D.J.'s bandaged face, and saw three lines of blood through the bandages.

"You're lucky that explosion didn't take your head off," John said, D.J just managed to bring out a grin.

"I make my own luck sir," he said, "Though I would prefer not to go through that again."

The Chief nodded as he turned to the others "I've been given Orders to help you all get to the UNSC _Lady Washington,_" he announced, surprising the others. "Several of your friends have been picked up by UNSC Forces and are there already. But before we can pull out, we need to take down a few Anti-Air towers the Covenant have set up."

Yasuji sighed "It's never easy is it..." he muttered.

"Don't worry," John said, "We'll be meeting up with the rest of my team to take them out. Once the towers are down, we can all get out of here."

Kateryna sighed, "Well, more work for me then," she said as she patted her Dragunov.

"And I have wasted two of my rockets," Azeem said, "I could make possibly make two shots with this, before this launcher is useless,"

John looked at the antiquated RPG-7 launcher and couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow, before shaking his head, he learned from one of the trainers that just because it's old, doesn't mean it's useless.

"Just stay close to me," he said, "Its just a short walk to my team's position."

Daniel nodded "Lead the way sir," he said, John nodded as the Spartan lead the six of them though the streets of the city.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Later**_

_**Near the AA Towers**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

A few minutes of walking later, the group found themselves approaching a four story building near the edge of the city. However not to far of a distance away they could see the single Type-38 "Tyrant" Anti-Aircraft Cannon in the distance.

"Well, there's one of the cannon," Said Kateryna, looking through the scope and spotting the numerous Covenant, and she what she assumed to be three Wraith Tanks, "A lot of infantry guarding it though,"

The Chief nodded at that, "The Covenant guard these things like a wolverine does it kill," he said, "Their the Covenant's best way to make sure civilian's can't evacuate a colony, or prevent UNSC Forces from sending in reinforcements."

"All the more reason to take them down so we can get out of here." Daniel said as they walked up the stairs of the building. They approached a door to a room on the top floor, where John knocked using the 'Oly Oly Oxen Free' code. The Door opened and another Spartan in MJOLNIR IV armor wearing an Air Assault helmet appeared in the door. D.J saw the small picture of a Rabbit on the Spartan's armor, as well as the numbers 087 on the brestplate. That added to her slightly noticeable feminine curves in her armor, he made the very accurate guess that this was Kelly-087.

"Chief, glad to see you made it," Kelly said, "I see you found the HPTs?"

John nodded, "And they're actually not bad in combat, since they took down a Hunter, and only suffering one wounded," he said turning his head to the group, with Saeko and Daniel supporting D.J. who started to look woozy. Kelly blinked at that.

"They took down a Hunter?" she asked and looked at the group, "Definitely an unusual bunch. These guys are who the Doc wants us to extract?"

"Yes," Chief said, "No doubt about it."

Kelly nodded as she let the Chief and the others inside. Daniel and the others found two other Spartan's inside, one with a Sniper Rifle who was by the window who he guess was Linda-058, and another one who had the number 104 on his chest that he was Fred-104.

'_Jordan would be going crazy if he were here,_' D.J thought, '_Its pretty much all of his favorite Spartan's in one room!_'

"Linda, what do we got?" John asked their Sniper.

"Lot's of Covenant activity down there," Linda said in a Southern Accent, "Three Wraiths, a few Ghost's and Revenant's. There's also a few Banshee's that make a pass over the area every now and then. Not to mention the Infantry on the ground, Grunts, Jackal Snipers, and Elites. She's gonna be a tough nut to crack."

Chief nodded in agreement, "True," he said, and turned back to the group he picked up. Daniel, along with Saeko's help placed D.J. down on the floor against the wall, with the latter then proceeding to change his bandages, due to them soaked in blood. Kateryna took a position at a different window, while the others sat down.

"So Chief, where did you find this bunch?" Fred asked.

"Walking down a street in the city," he answered, "Like I said, they got ambushed by a pair of Hunters. They took out one, and I finished of the last one. Strange thing is as you can see, their using antiquated weapons, and that girl and boy have weapon's I've never seen before." he pointed to the pair of Boltshots on her hips, and Yasuji's Suppressor. "Don't look Covenant or Human in make."

"Dr. Halsey said that these people may be the key to changing the war," Fred said, "You know as well as I do that she wouldn't say that unless she knew absolutely sure that info was genuine."

John nodded, "True," he said, "Let's just hope that info they have really helps,"

As he said this, Saeko was cleaning the three wounds on D.J.'s face. The bleeding stopped for now, but there was still a chance they could start bleeding again. She then took the gauze that Daniel handed to her, and made strips to cover the three scratch wounds.

"The bleeding stopped, but there is still a chance they can start bleeding again," Saeko said, "I suggest you don't do anything crazy,"

D.J. chuckled a bit, "Thanks for the info Doc," he said, "Where did you learn medical?"

Saeko smiled a bit, "My Kaa-san was a paramedic, while my Tou-san was a Martial Arts teacher in Tokyo," she said, "Yasuji-kun always says I'm the perfect blend between my Parents."

"Ah," D.J said, "You know Yasuji well?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod "We've been friends as far back as I remember, we're siblings in all but blood really. I guess if I wanted anyone to come with me on this whole little 'adventure', I couldn't of picked anyone else but him."

D.J nodded "I know the feeling," he said, glancing at his brother who was looking out a window "I'm glad I'm doing this thing with my bro, he'll watch my back while I watch his." Saeko smiled, "You two are really close are you?" she asked.

D.J. nodded, before wincing a bit, "Y-Yeah, we are. We may have had a few fights in tha past, but we get along afterwards," he said.

"That's good," she said, "At least you two don't outright hate each other. I know some people like that."

"Same here," D.J said, "I guess I got lucky, having a brother like him."

Meanwhile, Kateryna was observing the area through her Dragunov scope, looking at all of the Covenant in the area. The Spartan's were right, this was gonna be a tough nut to...

'_Hello? What have we here?_' she thought as she zoomed her Scope forward, and grinned "You said this is gonna be a tough nut to crack, right?" she asked suddenly, grabbing the others attention. "Well, I think I just found our Nutcracker. Three degrees to the left, just under that ridge."

Linda nodded as she turned her own Sniper Rifle to the Coordinates, and there it was. A single relatively intact M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank.

The Sniper let out a low whistle "Well what do ya know..." she thought, "Must of been abandoned and left there, Covenant haven't even bothered to destroy or salvage it."

"Not surprised there," Fred said, "Covenant refuse to use tech not built by themselves. You think its still functioning?"

"Looks intact," Linda said, "We could use it as long as it has fuel and ammo,"

"Well, what are waiting for then?" Daniel said, "Let's get over there and get it,"

John immediately placed a hand on the Army Sergeant's shoulder, "One, you're too important to lose and two, you're not going out there alone," he said.

"I know that," Daniel said, "But we can't just sit here and wait, so what do you suggest?"

John turned to Fred "Fred, take Daniel here with you to that Tank, see if its still functioning." he said, and then turned to Linda "Linda, stay here and provide sniper support. I'll take Kelly and the others towards the Tyrant and get ready to engage. If we're doing this, we gotta do this quick."

The others nodded at that, as D.J. stood up and grabbed his AK-12.

"Mind if I tag along?" he said, "I'm not gonna let a few scratches on my face keep me on my ass," he said, and Kelly smirked at the kid's guts.

Chief looked at D.J. and weighed his options. On one hand, he could get himself more injured in the process, but on the other hand, another person could increase their odds, plus his wound wasn't that bad and not appearing to be life-threatening.

"Alright, but stay close." Chief said, "Try not to fall behind, or make that wound of yours worse."

"Don't need to tell me twice," D.J said as the Spartan's and the others left the room, leaving Linda alone by herself as he prepared herself for the upcoming fight.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**Elsewhere in the City**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

"Where do you suppose the others are?" Oscar said, as the group of five entered the city. "How should I know?" said Patrick, "They could be anywhere,"

The two Irish twins were lucky to have ended up with Tom, Kaiya, and James. Now they and the group are searching for their missing fellow Retainers. However they have been wondering around the city rather aimlessly, looking anywhere and everywhere for any sign of them.

"Apex said she'd get us on the same planet," James said, "We just need to keep looking, and we'll find them."

"We can't stay here on this planet forever you know," Patrick said, "We've already ran into one Covenant patrol, as far as we know they could've ended up on the complete opposite side of the planet!"

James sighed, "Then we'll just have to find a UNSC patrol and request they evac us outta here"

"Easier said than done, James," Tom said, "We're wearing either civilian clothing or military uniforms that are considered antiques to people in this timeline, hell we don't even know if there are any UNSC Forces nearby!"

Almost immediately after he said that, the team could hear the distant sounds of weapons fire, and not just plasma, but human weapons as well.

"Well, someone has to be firing those weapons," Patrick said, "And since I know Covenant _never _use Halo Weapons, I think we got some friendlies nearby!"

"Let's move!" James shouted as the team mobilized forward, following the sounds of gunfire to the source. It took them 6 minutes to find where the shooting was, and when they arrived, their eyes widened at seeing a firefight between UNSC Marines, along with a few UNSC Army troopers, and at least a Company strength of Covenant mostly made of Grunts, Jackals, and to Tom's slight horror, a few Brutes.

"Shit. I wasn't expecting to go against Brutes this soon," he said.

"You mean those overgrown Gorillas?" James asked.

"Yeah," Tom said, "Question now is: What kind of Brutes are we dealing with? The Halo: Reach Brutes that are fairly easy to kill, the Halo 2 Brutes that are very tough to kill, or the Elite Brutes from Halo 3 and ODST that have shields and armor?"

"One way to find out," Oscar said as he armed his Steyr AUG. "They don't look like Halo 3 Brutes, they don't have the armor or the shields. So they can't be that hard to take down."

"True," Tom said as he took out his C14, extending the Bipod. He looked up and saw a small tower which looked like it provided an excellent view of the battle area. "Me and Kaiya will head up that tower, provide some sniper support." he said, "James, you take Patrick and Oscar behind the Covenant, focus on the Brutes first."

James nodded, knowing this kid knew more about these things than he did.

"Right. Make your shots count," he said and then turned to the twins, "Alright seuns, let's kill us some alien apes," he said, and the Irish grinned while nodding.

"With pleasure," they said at the same time and the three left to sneak behind the Covenant lines.

"I hope you know what you're doing Tom," Kaiya said. Tom sighed as he looked up at the tower. "I hope so too Kaiya." he said as the two quickly made their way to the building.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**With the Marines**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

"Incoming!" An Army Infantryman shouted as he jumped away just in time to avoid a fuel rod cannon shot at his previous position. Bullets and Plasma were being traded between the UNSC and Covenant foces on either side of the street. The Brutes were firing their Spikers and Custom Plasma Rifles at the soldiers as they returned fire.

"Yeah! Eat this!" Shouted a Marine manning the M41 LAAG Turret of a Warthog that was missing its front wheels at the oncoming Covenant, easily mowing down a series of Grunts who made a charge towards them.

"Sarge, Sarge!" A young marine with Auburn colored hair and brown eyes shouted as he moved from cover to cover with a BR55 in hand, before he slid into cover beside another Marine who had an M90 Shotgun. "Sarge, we're gonna run out of ammo for the M41 soon!"

"I know that!" The African American Sergeant shouted as he took a puff of smoke from his Cigar. "Fitzgerald is a little too trigger happy for his own good." He rose from his cover and fired his shotgun, blasting away a Brute that tried to make a charge on them. "Ha! Take that ya dumb ape!"

The other Brutes saw their comrade get blasted by the Shotgun wielding Gunny, and roared in anger as one grabbed a Grav Hammer and charged at the UNSC line,

"Shit! Sarge I think you pissed them off!" shouted a Army Trooper, wearing an AA Helmet and armor signifying him as an airborne trooper. He had two chevrons on his chest armor, showing he was a Corporal.

"Shut it, Corporal, and shoot'em then!" The Gunny yelled.

The Lead Brute Chieftain charged forward, its Grav Hammer in hand as it advance. Then...

_**CRACK!**_

The Lead Brute's head spurted blood as it fell to the ground dead, shocking both the Covenant and the UNSC Troops.

"What the hell?" The Sergeant said, "We don't have any snipers, who fired that shot?" Then, they could hear additional gunfire from _behind _the Covenant, followed by a few explosions sending a bunch of Grunts and Jackals flying in the air.

"Sergeant Johnson, look!" The Marine shouted, pointing behind the Covenant lines as three men began cutting through the Covenant lines from behind.

"Who the hell are those guys?" Gunnery Sergeant Avery J. Johnson asked, as he saw the three unknowns tearing the Covenant a new asshole. He spotted a Marine who had a pair of binoculars.

"Give me those!" he ordered and snatched them away from the startled Marine.

"Hey! What the-!?"

Johnson ignored the Marine as he looked through the binoculars to get a better look at the attackers. There were three of them, and that was surprising enough, however he also noticed they were wearing antiquated earth military uniforms, but their weapons looked like they belonged in a museum, including Steyr AUG's and one guy with an MP5. However from his spot, it appeared they were at least modified.

He then heard additional sniper fire as more Brute's fell to the ground dead. From the sound it made it wasn't an SRS-99AM Sniper rifle.

However at the moment he didn't really care, all he cared was that they were human, and they were kicking those covvie bastard's asses, and they could use help.

"Jenkins!" He shouted, "Rally up the men! Let's give these guys a hand here!"

The Private nodded, "Got it Sarge!" he said, and soon the UNSC Marines and Troopers began to move out and fire at the remaining Covenant Forces.

"Give them a belly full of lead!" Johnson shouted, as he kicked a Grunt in the face, crushing it's methane mask, before the Gunnery Sergeant finishes it with a shotgun blast to the face.

"And a Pool of their own blood to drown in!"

"YES SIR!" They shouted as they charged forward, forcing their way forward against the Covenant position across from them.

From their spot in the building, Tom grinned as he saw the UNSC Forces advance with the assistance of the others. "Now _this _is beautiful." He said as he pulled the trigger and killed a Jackal Skirmisher "These Brute's are easy, must be like the Halo Reach Brutes...for now at least," He looked at the new futuristic scope that was now mounted on his gun and grinned as he saw the reports on wind speed target speed and a targeting assisting retical that helped lead a target "Thank you Apex."

He looked at the UNSC Marines through the scope, however the one leading them caught his eyes, and his eyes widened.

"No way...Sergeant Johnson..." he said, while Kaiya blinked.

"Who?" she asked.

"He's a UNSC Sergeant, and is probably one of the most badass characters of the whole Halo series! Besides the Master Chief of course. I wasn't expecting to meet him this soon," he said, clearly surprised in seeing the Former Spartan I.

Getting over his surprise, Tom quickly went back to sniping the Covenant, killing another Brute with a clean headshot.

After a few more minutes of fighting, the Covenant Forces were forced to retreat, while the majority of the Covenant Forces now lied defeated on the ground.

Johnson fired a coup de grace into the head of a Brute "And stay down," he said before he turned around and saw the three newcomers approach him, along with another two appearing out of another building.

When he saw the rifle of the supposed sniper, he recognized it as the C14 Timberwolf MRSWS. An old, but heavily respected sniper rifle back in it's day, however it seemed to have been upgraded with some kind of new scope. When he saw the woman with the other weapon. She was dressed as an normal civilian, but the weapon in her hands caught his attention.

It looked Covenant, but it wasn't. Colored all silver like, every weapon he's seen the Covenant use were either Blue, Purple, Red, or Green, never silver.

He took out the Cigar in his mouth and spoke "Well, I gotta thank ya for the help," he said, "Though you mind telling me just who you people are?"

"Name's Tom Johnston," The Canadian said, before pointing at Kaiya "This is Kaiya Taylor, Oscar O'Donnell, Patrick O'Donnell, and James Smithe. For now, let's just leave it at we're a bunch of people who would like to find our friends and get off this rock ASAP."

The Sergeant hummed in thought as he looked at the group, "One of your friend's wouldn't happened to be named Jordan Tackett or something?" He asked, surprising the others, "He and a few others helped evac some UNSC Marines and a Spartan a while ago, don't know much of the details, but Rear Admiral Mactire ordered any UNSC Assets still on the ground to find you and get you on her ship ASAP."

Tom blinked at that before chuckling then laughing, "Damn kid made it! *Laughs* I knew he would," he said.

"We also got a report that 6 of your buddies were also in town, until they got jumped by Hunters," Tom became alert at that, but sighed in relief by what Johnson said next. "Luckily another Spartan was there to help him out," Johnson said. "One of them got snagged by some Shrapnel, but it ain't too serious."

"Good," he said, "So where to now? Do we call in an extraction?"

Johnson sighed and shook his head "Nah, we can't right now." he said, "There's a Covenant Tyrant Anti-Air Cannon not to far from here, one of three in the area. If we're gonna get extracted, we gotta take out at least one of those guns. Blue Team along with your friends were going to attack the closest one, and we were on our way to support them until we got ambushed by those Apes."

Tom then grinned deviously, "Mind if we help out?" he asked, "We're more than prepared," Johnson thought it over, weighing the pros and cons of the decision he'll make. He knew these people had skills, but he didn't want them to get themselves killed. Sighing he came up with a decision.

"Alright, you can come. But stay close, and keep alert," he said, "'Cause I ain't bringing you back to the _Lady Washington _in body bags."

"You won't," James said, "But enough talk, we gotta go now if we're getting out of here!"

"Right," Johnson shouted, "Marines! Army! Move out!"

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Meanwhile**_

_**With Blue Team**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

Daniel and Fred moved towards the Scorpion Tank, "You know how to drive one of these things, right?" The U.S Army soldier asked to the Spartan.

"Every Spartan knows the basics," Fred said as he approached the cockpit hatch, "Its been awhile for me though, but its like riding a bike, you can never forget."

Sighing, Daniel nodded as he hopped onto the Scorpion and manned the M247T Medium Machine Gun turret.

"I just hope my crazy brother doesn't do any crazy John Wayne shit," he muttered.

"What was that?" Fred asked.

"Nothin', you strapped in yet?" he asked.

"Yep, I'm in," the Spartan said, "Hang on there Sergeant, let's see what this thing can do." The Scorpion then roared to life as its engines turned on. "Alright, she's got fuel." Fred said, "Ammo...there's still plenty of it. We're good."

Daniel grinned as he pulled the lever back on his Machine Gun "Perfect," he said, "Let's bring the pain!"

With the rest of the team, they were now getting into their new positions, preparing to attack the base once Fred and Daniel provided the proper extraction. John turned on the TEAMCOMM "Linda, take out the enemy snipers first, and then enemy anti-armor." he said, "We'll handle the rest."

John looked at his Heads Up display, and saw Linda's icon wink Green that she acknowledges.

"Alright, on my mark in 5...4...3...2...1, mark!" the moment he said, a shot rang out, and hit one of the Elites.

"Show time!" shouted D.J. as he, the other Retainers, and the Spartans moved from their positions and started firing. With D.J. firing his AK-12 in three round bursts mode, made possible due to the Forerunner upgrades. The upgraded bullets flew from the barrel of his weapon and took down 3 grunts.

Azeem fired one of his last rockets at a Wraith, that wasn't occupied due to it's Elite pilot not in it, destroying it by hitting its rear weak spot. "Let's go!" he shouted as he drew out his PKM and opened fire.

Kateryna had her Dragunov in hand as she found a suitable Sniping position and targeted the nearest enemy, that being a Jackal Sniper on top of the Tyrant tower.

However before she could fire, another shot rang out and the Jackal Sniper was suddenly missing a head.

Kateryna blinked "Da hell?" she said, before her eyes narrowed and looked at where Linda was positioned back in the building. "Oh, it is _on _now,"

With that she looked for a new target, that being a Grunt and firing hitting the methane tank and sending it skyward.

She then focused on another Jackal and fired two shots, one through the gap in it's shield and hitting it's shoulder, which resulted in it jerking back, only for the second shot to nail it in the head.

Linda blinked at the Spetsnaz Sniper's accuracy, and grinned.

"Looks like I got a rival," she said and then focused on another, before squeezing trigger and nailing the alien in the head.

As the two Sniper's began their little competition, D.J moved with the Chief, Saeko, Yasuji, and Kelly as they moved towards the AA Tower "We just need to get inside and destroy the power core," Chief said, "Take that out, and the whole thing will blow. That will be all the window the _Lady Washington _needs to send us a Pelican to get us out of here."

D.J nodded, "Right, but DUCK!" He shouted as he raised his AK-12. The Chief did so and he fired, hitting a Jackal Skirmisher that was trying to charge at them. The rounds hit the Skirmisher in the head, earning an instant kill.

"Elites!" Kelly shouted as she rose her MA5B at a group of Elites charging at them, with Energy Swords drawn.

However, Yasuji saw this and grinned "I've got this." he said as he drew his own katana sword and dashed towards the Elites in speed that surprised the Spartan's, and even the others.

'_Must be the Nanomachines..._' Saeko thought as Yasuji engaged the Elites.

The Japanese Swordsman ducked under the first Elite's sword swipe, and twirled around him kicking him in the back sending the alien to the ground. He raised his sword enough to catch the attack from a second elite's sword quickly, the Katana holding out against the Elite's Energy blade which surprised the Elites, and the Spartans.

Yasuji grinned more '_Thank you Apex-san for the upgrade to my sword,_' he thought as he pushed the Elite back. He then used his foot to trip the elite, causing him to fall to the ground. Yasuji quickly took the advantage he had and plunged the sword into the Elite's torso.

He then stepped to the side to avoid the third elite's attack, however he grabbed the fallen Elite's energy sword and activated it. When the Elite turned around he found the blade stabbed into its Torso as he fell back.

Retrieving his sword, he turned back to the first Elite, who appeared enraged that its brethren had fallen. Yasuji grinned as he twirled his sword around his fingers before holding it in a reverse grip with his right hand, while with his left hand he brought it out, and made the infamous 'bring it on' gesture.

The Elite roared as it charged forward Recklessly. Yasuji seemingly effortlessly dodged the attacks, barely even using his sword to avoid being sliced in half, ducking and side-stepping.

Then, he decided to end the duel there as he ducked once more under the Elite's last strike, and brought up his sword and pierced the Elite's skull through its split jaw. He took the sword out as the Elite stood there for a few more moments, before Yasuji cried out a Japanese War cry and decapitated the Elite.

The others looked in shock as they saw what Yasuji did to the Elites. D.J. was even more flabbergasted as he was reminded of a certain Ninja back home.

"Ryu Hayabusa...," he said barely above a whisper, and thought, _'Okay, now I want a sword,'_

The other Covenant were so shocked that the Elites were so easily vanquished, that a few shots from Linda and Kateryna's rifles that killed a few of them, was needed to snap them out of it.

Yasuji looked up at his allies "Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked, "We ain't getting paid by the hour here, let's take this thing out and get out of here!"

Chief, still shocked by what he saw, could only nod as the group continued forward. '_Just who are these people?_' he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Daniel was grinning as he fired the Machine Gun of the Scorpion, mowing down the oncoming Covenant Hordes while Fred drove the tank forward, firing the cannon destroying another Wraith Tank. "YES!" He shouted, "TANK BEATS EVERYTHING!"

"Easy there Sergeant," Fred said, "There's still another Wraith!"

"Yeah, I see it," Daniel said, and grinned when he saw a mixed group of Grunts and Jackals in the mix supporting the Wraith, "And a lot of infantry for me kill,"

He then proceeded to fire his machine gun again, taking out a quarter of the Covenant Infantry while Fred fired the main gun once more, hitting the Wraith right in the cockpit area, destroying it and taking what was left of its surrounding infantry with it.

"That's the last of them!" Daniel said, before a mortar of red plasma soared over their tank, nearly missing them. Daniel looked and saw two Revenant's floating nearby, firing their smaller Plasma Mortars. "Revanant's! Eight-o-clock!"

"I see them," Fred said as he turned the turret again and fired another shot, destroying the first Revenant while Daniel used his Machine Gun to kill the pilot of the second one. Thus sending the Covenant vehicle out of control and into a wall, resulting in an explosion.

"That takes care of that problem," D.J. said as he looked at the Tyrant, "Now to take this thing down,"

"Banshee's! Hang on!" Fred shouted as he backpedaled the Scorpion, avoiding several Fuel Rod cannons fired at where the tank once was.

"Whoa shit!" Daniel shouted, as he looked up in the skies and saw three Banshee's flying down towards them, now firing their plasma cannons. "You wanna play rough do ya? Well, try this!" He then brought the Machine Gun to bear, and opened fire. The 7.62x51mm NATO caliber rounds hit the Banshee's and pounded against the armor of the lead one as it tore at it, and eventually destroying the Banshee all together. Fred rose the Scorpion's main gun at the second Banshee and fired, destroying yet another target, while Daniel finished off the last one.

"Banshees down!" Fred said, as the others looked for more Covenant.

"Okay, _now_ we can bring this-," before he could finish, three needler rounds flew past his head, "Oh come on!" he shouted as he and the others turned their attention to a group of 10 Grunts and 6 Jackals. However before they could fire, a barrage of bullets hit the Infantry from the left flank.

"What the...?," D.J. said, before turning and seeing a mixed group of UNSC Marines and Army as they delivered pain to the Covenant, firing their assault rifles at the mix of enemies. However, among them he quickly recognized five of the individuals there. "Tom!" He shouted with a grin, "Drunk Canadian Bastard, I knew he'd make it!"

With said Canadian, Tom grinned as he paused his charge for a moment as he fired his Timberwolf at another Jackal Sniper. "Now _this _is what I'm talking about!" he said, before he shouted to the others and the Marines "Come on you apes! You wanna live forever?"

The Marines and Army just continued to charge forward, with the combined effort of the Reinforcements and the Spartan Team, the Covenant Forces were quickly overrun as they stood no chance against the superior numbers the Humans had with them today.

Inside the turret, Kelly used her MA5B to take out the shield to the power generator, and then she lobbed in two frag grenades inside. She and the others ran out as the Grenades detonated. The turret began sounding warning alarms for a few more seconds until the entire top half of the turret exploded in a brilliant blue flash of fire.

"And scratch one Tyrant Turret!" Linda said as she saw the AA turret come down in a fiery glory. She then vacated her position to rejoin her Team.

"This is Sierra-117 to _Lady Washington_," John said as everyone gathered, "Tyrant is down and area is secured. Send in Pelicans on my position,"

"_Roger that Sierra-117,_" came the reply, "_Pelican's launching and heading to your position. ETA 10 Minutes._"

While this happened, Tom and D.J's groups meet with one another near the destroyed AA Tower. "Good to see ya Tom," D.J said grinning, "I was actually getting worried about you." "Bah, it was nothing." Tom snorted before eyeing his bandage "You sure you gonna be alright though?"

D.J. touched the area near the wounds, "Awww, it's nothing. Just three scratches," he said, "My mom would sure throw a hissy fit though,"

Tom and Daniel laughed at, knowing what he meant by that.

"Yeah, she would." Daniel said, "Though the others would probably think the scar's will look pretty badass."

D.J laughed a bit as well "Yeah," he said, "Well, today certainly has been productive enough. I met the Master Chief, we took down a Hunter, and a Tyrant AA Gun and killed a crap ton of covvie's."

"Yeah," Tom said, "And I've met Sergeant Johnson and his team."

The three nodded at that, "Good," D.J. said and looked up when he heard the sound of jet engines as a flight of Pelicans arrived to pick them up.

"And here's our ride off this rock," he said as the dropships landed and the rear ramps opened, allowing them, their fellow Retainers, the Spartans, and the other UNSC personnel to board them.

As soon as the last man was off the ground the Pelicans took off from the surface of Harvest and back to the UNSC Fleet in orbit.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Later**_

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

The Pelicans landed in the hangar of the UNSC _Lady Washington, _as Halsey, Jordan, and Derek, the latter two who are wearing UNSC Marine uniforms, waited.

Jordan took a brief glance at his new attire, admitting he liked the feel the UNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform gave, it looked just like the ones used by the Marines in Halo 3 '_Fits like a glove,_' he thought, '_Though I wished they still had some ODST Armor available, then I'd be in business for a while. And I certainly like the new weapons._'

He grinned as he patted his new side-arm, an M6D Magnum Sidearm, aka 'The Halo 1 pistol'. He left his Mark-14 in the quarters Halsey had given him and the others of the group, in exchange for a MA5C Assault Rifle which was now strapped onto his back. No offence to the amazing upgrades Apex had given them all to their weapons, but Jordan has always had a personal preference to the UNSC Weapons used in Halo, especially the MA5 series, the DMR, and the Battle Rifles.

The hatch to the first Pelican opened up, and the first ones out were D.J, Tom and the others. Jordan grinned as he stepped towards them.

"You're late!" Jordan shouted at them, "I was beginning to wonder if me the others and Derek's Marines were gonna have to win this war all by ourselves!"

Tom gave Jordan a quick glare "Well, not all of us had the most fortunate landings." he said, and Jordan just rolled his eyes.

"Please, me my bro and the others with me ended up right in the middle of a firefight between the UNSC and Covenant." he said, before looking at D.J, and finally noticing his wounds his eyes widened "Damn, D.J you alright? You look like shit."

D.J. just gave Jordan a glare, "Well looks don't count for shit for the Covenant," he said.

"What happened?" Jordan asked.

"I was up point with my brother, until a pair of Hunters showed up, fired a Fuel Rod round at me, missed, hit the car next to it, sent me flying, while three pieces of shrapnel hit me in the face," he explained as pointed to his three wounds. "We managed to take them out though, but its gonna scar for sure." he then chuckled a bit "The Chief said I'm lucky the blast didn't kill me actually."

Jordan smiled "Glad it didn't," he said, "I'm not sure I could do this whole thing without you guys." However then he blinked "Wait, the Chief?"

D.J and Tom grinned as they pointed to the second Pelican, and Jordan looked just as the Cargo Bay door opened.

And then, _he _stepped out.

The Moment Jordan saw the numbers on the Spartan-II's chest plate, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "The...its...is...is that..." he stuttered out.

Tom grinned and nodded "Yup," he said, "Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117 in the Flesh."

"Holy Shit..." he said, as he watched the Legendary Spartan talk to the others in Blue Team "I...I didn't think we'd meet him so soon..."

"Yeah, also Sergeant Johnson's here too," Tom said, just as the said Gunnery Sergeant stepped out of the Pelican as well, furthering Jordan's surprise.

"No. Fracking. Way..." Jordan said, not believing his own two eyes at the moment. "I'm assuming John and the Sergeant there are important to the...Halo Universe?" Halsey asked them.

"That is a severe understatement ma'am," Jordan said, "John's the main character in three of the books, and in four of the games. Almost the whole Halo Universe revolves around his accomplishments in the years to come. And Johnson's just as famous, being a popular character in the games as well."

"Interesting," Halsey said and turned to the other Retainers, as the rest came out of the Pelican, "It's a pleasure to meet you. If you would please follow me," she said and the group of interdimensional travelers complied and followed the doctor.

Derek shook his head, "Man, I don't know what that Light bulb's got planned," he said, although lowly so no one could hear him, "But I'm glad me and my squad are not the only ones here,"

Sighing, Derek simply moved to follow the group back to where the others were at. It took them a few minutes, but the Retainers soon found themselves in Halsey's office where the others were waiting for them, minus Daryl of course. Tom and the others quickly noted that everyone there was now wearing the same UNSC Marine Uniforms as Jordan and Derek were.

"Yo guys!" Matthew said, seeing the group walk in. "Glad to see you guys are still alive!" He then looked at D.J, "Ouch, D.J you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a few scratches really." he said waving it off.

"Say, where did Daisy go?" Jordan asked, "And Ralph?"

"They left a few minutes ago," Johann said, "Ralph had to get back to the hanger, and I think Daisy left to see how Daryl's doing."

Jordan nodded as he turned to Halsey again "I guess I should thank you Dr. Halsey," he said, "Thanks for helping us find the others."

Halsey just smiled "I never go back on my word," she said, "And you and your friends, along with your knowledge of what's to come, may be what will turn the tide of this whole war." Everyone nodded at that.

"Well, it will certainly change due to Daryl saving Daisy," Jordan said, "Not by much, but it will change," "Now our next question is where to go from here?" Tom said, and everyone nodded at that.

"I plan on integrating you into the UNSCDF under Jane's command, that way it should keep you safe from my 'colleagues' at ONI," she said the word 'colleagues' with sarcasm.

Jordan hummed in thought, "As much as I like that idea Doctor," he said, "I don't think that would be the end of it. If there's one thing I know about ONI, its that their pretty damn persistent when it comes to getting things they want. If too many people see odd things like Apex and anything else we're likely to encounter with the Covenant, I have no doubt ONI would start paying even more attention to us."

Halsey rose an eyebrow, however she would have to admit he was right. "That may be, but what else can you do?" she asked, "The UNSC is the only faction in the galaxy that can provide you with the information and resources you may need."

"Well," Jordan said, "I was thinking of us finding a secluded planet somewhere that neither ONI or the UNSC knows about. A planet that would make for an excellent hiding place from them, and the Covenant. Maybe build a base there for us to operate from. I'm not against working with the UNSC and ONI, I'm just saying I'm not all for Working _for _ONI." he then sighed, "Problem is: Where do we find a Planet the UNSC has no knowledge of?"

"I have one," Apex said, causing the others to look at her. "I know of the perfect place to establish a form of 'foothold' we could use." She then moved towards a Terminal, and began downloading Coordinates into it. The hologram then displayed a lush looking world with an earth-like environment.

"This is Shield World 1441," Apex explained,"Its a Shield World much like Onyx is, appearing as a standard planet on the outside, however on the inside it contains large Forerunner structures and an interior environment. Shield 1441 was also a very vital facility back during the Forerunner-Flood war, since it has many shipyards and manufacturing facilities inside the planet. Ever since the war ended, it has been abandoned, and never to be found by neither the Covenant or the UNSC to my best knowledge."

The others looked at the shield world, and a few nodded in agreement.

"It's a nice place," Kaiya said, while agreed with her.

"Yeah...but, how are _we_ suppose to get there?" said Tom, "We can't use the ship we're on now. People will get suspicious when something like a _Valiant_-class goes missing,"

"Not to mention bringing the _Lady Washington _would sorta go against the whole 'Make sure the UNSC doesn't find out' thing." Alphonse pointed out.

Halsey then hummed in thought, "I may have an idea," she said as she approached the Terminal, and typed in a few commands and the holographic image of a warship appeared. Jordan and Alphonse quickly recognized it "That's a _Halcyon-_class Light Cruiser!" Alphonse said.

"Yeah, like the _Pillar of Autumn._" Jordan said, and Halsey nodded. "Yes," she said. "She's the UNSC _Dawn under Heaven,_ she was part of the fleet, but in the Second Battle of Harvest she took a real beating from the Covenant. The crew had to abandon ship. However, aside from the obvious damage, its MAC Gun, the engines, and Slipspace Drive are still functional, as well as still having some of its armaments like Archer Missiles, and 50mm Auto Cannons functioning. Jane tells me they plan on scrapping her because of her damage to build newer ships...but I think she can file a report stating the _Heaven's_ reactor experienced an overload and was destroyed. You can then use it to get to this Shield World."

Jordan looked at the ship, and nodded in approval "Works fine with me," he said, and the others seemed to agree. "How are we suppose to pilot it though?"

"I can," Apex said, surprising the others. "Remember, I am an A.I, I have many functions, and I can quickly and easily download the proper procedures of piloting this vessel in a few minutes. Simply give me some time to ensure the vessel's engines and Slipspace drives are good to go and we can leave."

Jordan grinned, "That's excellent," he then turned to D.J., Tom, and the Retainers who didn't upgrade, "And while we're waiting. Let's get you," he pointed to D.J., "cleaned up, and then head to the armory and get you guys into some proper gear,"

D.J. and Tom grinned at that.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" D.J. said, "I might get lucky and find a MP helmet there,"

Daniel sighed at his brother as the Retainers left the room. Halsey shook her head while smiling. A few minutes after they left, a knock sounded at her door.

"Yes?" Catherine said, and the door opened and a woman entered, wearing the uniform of a Navy Nurse.

"Doctor Halsey, I have the Medical evaluation and blood test for one Abigail Burton," the nurse said as he handed a data chip to her, and Catherine accepted it. When Daisy told her that the little girl that survived Harvest along with her family for five years in a fallout shelter, she was greatly surprised and advised the Marine who found her, Roy, to have her checked out, just in case.

"Thank you, Susan. You're dismissed," she said, and the nurse left. Halsey then plugged in the data chip into her Terminal, and began to go through the content. However as she went through Abigail's genetic profiles, her eyes widened in surprise.

'_Well, I'll be._' she thought, as she double checked her findings to make sure what she found was accurate '_They're all there...the same Genetic Markers John and the other Spartan-II's have...Abigail has the potential to become a Spartan!_'

If this was over 20 years ago, Halsey would have begun planning a way to recruit Abigail into the SPARTAN-II Program. However, she knew that the Marines, along with Jordan and his comrades would no doubt be protective of the girl. And she had spent too much time building up trust between her, Jordan and the others to risk it all on one girl.

Still, she could ask them for their opinion at least, and see if they would be willing to have her trained to be a Spartan. If they refused, then that would be it.

"I'll talk to them before they leave," she said, "I should also include Daisy, and the other Spartans of this. Especially Daisy," she said, and then sighed.

Somehow she just knew this was gonna be ugly.

_**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**_

_**Patriot-112**__**: And done! Wow, this is a long one!**_

_**117Jorn:**__** Yeah, nearly 27,000 words this one! I guess we sorta got carried away.**_

_**Patriot-112:**__** That we did. Next chapter, we prepare to head to Shield World 1441, and the fate of whether Abigail will become a SPARTAN-II, or remain a normal human.**_

_**Dragonknightryu**__**: All that and more will be decided in the next chapter of Halo: From Heaven to Hell!**_

_**Patriot-112: **__**So until then...**_

_**Everyone:**__** JA NE!**_


End file.
